Hannah
Petrikovsky - THE BIRDCAGE - oil on canvas,
48" x 10"
Leah
Caroline - Photon Painting - cyanotype 1135
x 600cm
ARTIST
STATEMENT - Hannah Petrikovsky
Hannah Petrikovsky
combines oil paint and charcoal to create aesthetically
lush, vivid paintings
which explore themes of beauty and impermanence. She exhibited
in a group show at Lyme Academy
and two group shows at the Richard and Dolly Maas Gallery.
She has her BFA in Lyme Academy of Fine Arts
and has an MFA and MA from SUNY Purchase. She lives in
Hamden with her family.
Hannah Petrikovsky is an Adjunct Professor of Fine Art
and History "Exploring Visual Culture" at Eastern
Connecticut State University,
Willimantic, CT, 2021 to the present. She was Adjunct
Professor of Art History and Art Design at SUNY Purchase
College, NY, 2018-2022,
and Sacred Heart University, 2023, and Gateway Community
College, 2022. She had a Strypemonde Fellowship at the
Art History Department,
SUNY Purchase College, 2020-2021. Since 2022, she has
been a Painting Instructor at Creative Arts Workshop,
New Haven.
Her artwork has been shown frequently at at Richard &
Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase; also at Casa Somati, Pomona,
NY,
Essex Flowers Gallery, New York City, and Chauncey Silliman
Gallery, Old Lyme.
Hannah Petrikovsky - THEIR DESIRE TO
DESTROY IS DEAD SERIOUS - collage and ink on paper,
36" x 42"
Hannah
Petrikovsky - CYCLOPS HORSE - collage and paint
on paper, 24" x 18"
Hannah
Petrikovsky - WAITING TO BE FED
- oil and charcoal on paper, 23" x 31"
ARTIST
STATEMENT - Leah Caroline
My works are
personal and communal journals. “I have come to my
garden” is a series of cyanotype scrolls, c ontaining
Hebrew texts from Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs), Hasidic
commentary, and my pregnancy writings. This work grew out
of an odd connection with an aloe plant I wrote about in
my nature writing, where it signified my experiences of
pregnancy. The aloe became me and when it died over the
winter I felt its loss. The very personal writings of my
garden, recalled memories
of an important Chasidic text I studied in my youth—called
“Basi LeGani” (“I have come to my garden”),
it is based on chapter 5 of Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs).
I used photographs
of the dead aloe plant, scientific drawings of pregnant
wombs, and the texts to make negatives for the cyanotype
prints. Cyanotype is an early
photographic printing process used to record nature and
make blueprints. To make the negatives for the prints, I
digitally manipulate photographs of nature,
personal writings, and Biblical and other communal texts.
I arrange and layer the negatives onto chemically sensitized
papers, expose them to sunlight, and
process in water. The processed papers turn a brilliant
Prussian blue. Sometimes, I layer multiple printings and
collage actual plant materials into the prints.
The layering of photos and text within the images, mirror
the layering of my memories of nature, myself, and my community.
Henry David
Thoreau said, “The only people who ever get any place
interesting are the people who get lost.” One summer
I was a resident artist at Weir Farm
in Wilton, CT, and I got lost. I wandered the woods, collected
plants and other natural materials, and scanned the plants
in various stages of life.
Once, the scanner started before I was ready and it created
an image of my hand arranging some flowers. This “accident”
became a more intentional
series of scans, Arrangements, where I introduced movement
and my body. My wanderings (I did actually get lost in the
woods) and accidents broadened
my scope of documenting, and the materials I use. And they
all—materials, images, texts— become new layers
in my stories.
BIO
Leah Caroline
was raised in the Chassidic community of Crown Heights,
Brooklyn. She received her BFA from Lyme Academy College
of Fine Arts in Old Lyme,
Connecticut. Her exhibits include solo exhibitions and
a commission by Artspace Inc. for site-responsive work
for City Wide Open Studios in New Haven, CT.
In 2017, she participated in Jerusalem Between Heaven
and Earth for the Jerusalem Biennale. Caroline has been
an artist in residence, including at Weir Farm
in Wilton, CT and at Governors Island with Art Kibbutz.
Most recently, she co-curated the new site “Art in
Jewish Sacred Spaces” for the Jewish Art Salon.
She has also written and illustrated for Chabad.org. Caroline
currently lives and works in New Haven with her husband
and five children.
Jill Nichols
- SUMMER STORM - oil on board, 18" x 15"
Jill NIchols - BABY'S
BREATH - oil on canvas 18" x 16"
Artist
Statement ~ Jill Harrington Nichols
My painting
is poetry, a lyrical composition of color and light. When painting,
I am in the moment, thoroughly present
and enraptured. I experience a sense of peace, as well as an urgency
to capture and share the moment. It is a
privilege to paint. Taking in the invisible birdsong, whispering
winds, fragrant mist, and luminous clouds, often gone
before the brush touches the paint. Inadvertently documenting
the vanishing in a slipknot along the infinite.
<>
Video camera: Johnes Ruta
Jill Nichols
- FULL-MOON FARNESE, ITALY - oil on canvas, 12"
x 16"
Jill
Nichols’ painting explores both the earthbound and outer expanses
of our divine cosmos. Her sense of color and composition has developed
over the course of 30+ years as a commercial artist. She earned
her undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
In 2000, she set her focus on painting, at first training at the
Art Students League in NYC, and in 2015 earned her MFA in painting
at Western Connecticut State University.
Her commissioned
painting of Washington D.C. appeared as a backdrop for James Comey’s
interview on “Face the Nation” while another made its
appearance on Showtime’s “The Comey Rule” mini-series.
Her artwork “Phi,” celebrating the divine feminine was
a part of the “Nasty Woman” art social movement in New
Haven and then went
on to be installed in the Vatican Observatory Museum.
Jill Nichols - OLANA
STORM - oil on aluminum, 10" x 20"
Jill Nichols - PASSING THUNDERSTORM, FARNESSE
- oil on canvas, 12" x 16"
Jill Nicholls - SKY
WITH CRESCENT MOON - oil on canvas, 9" x 15"
Jill
Nichols has received awards from the U.S. Department of the Interior,
National Park Service, and Connecticut Office of the Arts. An active
participant in the art communities throughout Connecticut, she has
served as vice-president for the Connecticut Plein Air Painters
Society and Valley Arts Council and exhibited at the Lyme Art Association,
Carriage Barn, Greenwich Art Society, and Lyman Allen Museum.
Jill is an
instructor at the Silvermine Art School, in New Canaan, Connecticut,
and conducts painting workshops locally and abroad.
Jill now offers videos on YouTube and holds real-tim online painting
critiques.
Artworks by two artists:
Elisa Vegliante and Robert J. Cuneo (Univ. of Bpt. retired)
In the Meeting Room of
the
Mitchell Branch New Haven Free Public Library
37 Harrison Street, WESTVILLE, CT 06515
Location: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3277113,-72.9619846,18z
Curated by Johnes Ruta
Meet the Artists Reception:
Saturday October 21, 2023, 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Bob Cuneo - Primal Elder Goddess
- derwent pigment pencil leads on paper, 15"
x 10"
Elisa
Vegliante ESCAPE FROM THE AI WORLD
- acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"
Elisa
Vegliante -- MondoExpressionism
- Artist Statement
I taught
elementary school art for thirty two years, painting on the
side all the while. I’ve always been fascinated by Children’s
art:
the simple symbolism, the
playful use of color, the refusal or inability to mimic dull
reality. My art is sort of a child’s art
with the superimposition of subtext and/or narration,and I’ve
always thought of it as a link between classic expressionism
and primitivism, a balancing act between innocence and profundity,
an aesthetic see-saw between serious and fun.
<>
Video Camera: Johnes Ruta
Bob
Cuneo - Primal Enchanted Goddess - derwent
pigment pencil leads on paper, 15" x 10"
Robert J. Cuneo - Magic
Realist - Artist Statement
The history of the narrative art form evolves
in artworks such as Robert Cuneo’s visionary portrayals
of Gods and Goddesses,
which convey the sensation of cosmic consciousness and Illumination.
In his paintings from his series “Thought-Form Divinities
:
Astral Images of the Great Goddess and the Primal God,”
Cuneo relates his iconographic symbolism and mythic pictorial
imagery
to the Hermetic Traditions of alchemy, pagan magic, ancient
wisdom, and Renaissance story-telling. Drawn in a Magic Realist
style,
with derwent pigmented pencils, these pairs of six divine archetypes
are manifested in radiant pigment colors. Their faces gaze out
to
the viewer with the clear eyes of frankness, kindness, and mystery,
their costume garb telling the symbolism of their place
and purpose in the universe, and their roles among the other
godsand in the lives of earthly men and women.
Mr. Cuneo (b. 1939) is a retired Professor of
Fine Arts from the University of Bridgeport where he taught
from 1965 to 1989.
After leaving his tenured post at U.B., Cuneo also moved away
from the ideas of contemporary art and devoted the essence
of his work to the rituals and symbolismand the landscapes of
Classical harbor cities. He became a staff artist
for the nature/spirituality quarterly CIRCLE MAGAZINE, which
has featured his ink drawings and color covers since 1985.
<>
Video Camera: Johnes Ruta
Bob
Cuneo - Primal Organic Goddess - derwent
pigment pencil leads on paper, 15" x 10"
Bob
Cuneo - Primal Dancing God - derwent pigment
pencil leads on paper, 15" x 10"
Katia
Jirankova - ETERNAL FIGHT FOR THE GOLDEN FLOWER
- oil canvas, 30" x 48"
Katia
Jirankova Levanti lives half the year in her native
Prague and the other half she spends merging with the waves of
the
Connecticut coast painting close as possible to the waters. Her
concept is called "Subconsciounalism" which she describes:
"I
arrived at this name to describe my work after studying deeply
in the philosophies and writings of writers whose understanding
of the universe and mankind -- though originating from different
ends of the scientific and philosophical world - seemed to meet
me
at the apex of the symbolic pyramid. As one of them said, the
four walls could be seen as the four great world religions,
all arriving
from opposite directions at the common point: where 'The eye
of God opens.' ”
For Katia, these four sides could depict quantum physics, psychology,
mythology, and art.
Video camera: Mariellen Chapdelaine
(continued below)
Marian Doherty - Sailboat
oil pastels 13" x 17" framed
Artist’s
Statement – Marian Doherty
Water:
- ebbs and flows
- represented by Yin, the female quality
- fluid, shimmery, silky
- with waves that comfort
(like being in the womb)
- reflects various colors of light from the sky
Marian
Doherty was born in The Bronx. She received her BA in
Arts Administration from
Lehman College CUNY, and studied Painting & Sculpture
at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn.
Her home and Studio are located in Milford, CT.
Marian Doherty - Snug
in Harbor
oil pastels 13" x 17" framed
Marian Doherty - Thru
Car Window
oil pastels 13" x 17" framed
Marc Chabot - Survival
of the Fittest
Brush & Ink Drawing on warm white wove paper 13"
x 17"
<>
Video camera: Mariellen Chapdelaine
Artist’s
Statement – Marc Chabot
Marc Chabot is an artist, curator, lecturer
and private dealer in 19th -21st century American and European
original prints and works on paper. He is based in Southbury,
CT. In 1990, he founded Marc Chabot Fine Arts with a gallery
website and exhibits at art fairs up and down the east coast,
also documenting the forgotten printmakers of CT. Since
1998 he has been curator of the Natalie Van Vleck
(1901-1981) collections at the Flanders Nature Center and
Land Trust, which she founded, located in Woodbury. In 2018
at the Mattatuck Museum, along with the Flanders Art Committee,
he curated a retrospective exhibition with catalogue of
her modernist works and objects, documenting her pioneering
environmentalism and land preservation. Since 1989, Mr.
Chabot has taught and run figure drawing and printmaking
classes at the Washington [CT] Art Association. He has lectured
extensively on many American artists, especially those with
ties to Connecticut.
For this exhibit Mr. Chabot has chosen
several brush pen ink drawings on paper from imagination
of the past 20 years. Mysterious, animated environments
seek to engage the viewer in their own visual adventure,
asking themselves, where is this taking me? The
centuries old Asian traditions of landscape brush painting
and our own 20th century traditions of surrealism and
abstraction have informed the artist’s choices. The
absence of color focuses attention on the rhythm, velocity
and dynamic pulse of line, and the
evolving forms and interactions they suggest. What emerges
provides a time and place for contemplation with forces
at work, with entities and events taking place, for the
viewer to engage with and think about.
Marc
Chabot - Nose in a Bad Neighborhood
Sumi Pen Ink Drawing, 13" x 14"
Armando
Erba - Serbian Child
acrylic on canvas 12" x 16"
Artist’s Statement
– Armando Erba
Armando Erba
is a composer, actor, painter, and well-known, acomplished
performance artist
in New Haven, where he was born in 1957. His works are
deeply informed by his personal
creative mind and wide comprehensive study and knowledge
of world literature.
Mr. Erba did a year of paintings in San Franscisco in
1997, these pieces are his results.
Armando Erba - Women
of Saigon (Ho Chi Min City)
acrylic on canvas 14" x 18"
Mariellen
Chapdelaine - 9 - Emergent Point
- The Moon Pit -- mixed media 28.5"
x 21"
Artist’s
Statement – Mariellen Chapdelaine
Feeling compelled to create spontaneous shapes
in various arrays of color with emphasis on detail and texture
was where I began. The details, like Fibonacci’s code,
led to smaller details which mimicked the large, while the
big picture appeared an insinuation and iteration of the
tiny. I understood an inherent intelligence was realizing
itself in this work which is ‘beyond me’. As a
laborer, my job is to configure the forms in whatever medium
works to convey the amalgamated concepts which visit me.
I have been a student of the I Ching for forty-some years
and an avid admirer of Carl Jung. I learn to unlearn. As
a persistent ponderer of synchronicity, I understand the
ominous depths that reliance on chance can lead to, and
the impossible logic of simultaneously believing and not
believing the same thing at the same time. I concluded this
was not only possible but desirable since polar opposites
exists only in relation to each other. Why shouldn’t
the human brain which created names for this symmetry also
experience them firsthand?
My artistic process and the work I’ve created are the
result of this thought. I am inspired almost exclusively
by I Ching Hexagrams which to me convey emotionally logical
and highly specific types of shapes or imagery which I transfer
most often to heavy paper and sometimes to transparency
paper. The next step for a given piece is to photograph
and study the base layer and reread the hexagram to identify
core energies and the values which are conveying themselves.
Subsequent layers, as few as three or as many as twenty,
emerge spontaneously in a mental visual picture which I
then translate into doable manual actions. I create smaller
pieces to incorporate, sometimes doing deep research into
the evolution of the Hexagram to locate a layer of ‘meaning’
and its symbols, sometimes drawing or developing graphic
imagery which usually alludes to a natural element or an
obscure reference..
Mariellen Chapdelaine -- 57
- Subtle Penetration -- mixed media 21"
x 17"
Joe Fekieta --
It's Happening All Over the Place -- color-pencil-drawing
01
Artist’s
Statement – Joseph Fekieta
The
images in the “It’s Happening” series are
an abstract interpretation of the esoteric process of reproduction.
Included in this theme are concepts of fertili-zation, growth,
transformation, decay and death that are demonstrated through
invented life forms and sometimes their life cycles. The
colored ribbons function as the unexplainable energy which
enables the reproductive process to mysteriously begin and
continuously grow. The black ribbons assist the reproductive
process on its journey and guides it past many obstacles
during its many evolutionary stages.
The images are titled with frequently-used cliches obtained
from the American vernacular to appropriately explain each
drawings reproductive narrative. The narratives work as
symbolic representations for pedestrian social issues that
permeate human cultures and require relentless engagement
to manage and sustain civilization all as a result of the
reproductive process.
Joe
Fekieta -- It's Happening to Access
Desperately Needed Resources -- color pencil
drawing 14
Magda
Mraz, is an art teacher from the West Haven school system,
who paints tall format oil pastel paintings of mythic and
mysterious historical scenes. As a curator, I've exhibited
her artworks on several occasions. Magda is a resident of
Westville, originally from Prague, Czech Republic. She was
student at the Industrial School for Ceramics in Karlovy Vary,
Czechoslovakia. In 1967, her family emigrated to the US, and
she continued her education at Queens College in New York
City, where she earned her B.A. and M.F.A. degrees. ~JR
“I was always interested in a story telling, particularly
after I have discovered the existence of cosmic geometry which
permeates the whole universe. It is a study of the intertwining
of geometric forms and the structures of consciousness. My
artwork illustrated the sequential developmental stages in
their growing complexity. The
new work includes my illustrations of the two poems by the
Persian poet Hafiz and confirms the similar views he held
already in his 14th century."
~Magda Mraz
Magda Mraz KEEPING IN TOUCH - acrylic
on canvas 22" x 38"
Kathleen
DeMeo is a printmaker, painter, and mixed media artist. Her
work has been shown in respected exhibitions including the Center
for Contemporary Printmaking’s FOOTPRINT International, Connecticut
Women Artists’ national juried exhibition, the Connecticut
Academy of Fine Arts’ annual, and juried shows at Lyme Art
Association, where she is an associate member. Her monotypes have
merited several “best in show” prizes among other awards.
"I’ve always been inspired by the natural world.
My recent landscapes explore real and imagined places through
the lens of the monotype. In a world that assaults our senses
every day, I strive to create a feeling of calmness and serenity,
and a safe haven, reflecting my reverence for nature.”
~Kathleen DeMeo
Kathleen holds a BFA in graphic design from the University of
Connecticut, and has studied printmaking at Creative Arts Workshop
for over 25 years.
More of her work can be viewed on her website at http://Kathleendemeo.com/
Kathleen DeMeo NORTHERN LATITUDE -
mixed-media monotype 12" x 17"
Katia Jirankova Levanti - SISTERS
- oil on canvas, 36"h x 48”w
Katia
Jirankova Levanti
lives half the year in her native Prague and the other
half she spends merging with the waves of the Connecticut
coast painting close as possible to the waters. Her
concept is called "Subconsciounalism" which
she describes:
"I
arrived at this name to describe my work after studying
deeply in the philosophies and writings of writers
whose understanding of the universe and mankind --
though originating from different ends of the scientific
and philosophical world - seemed to meet me at the
apex of the symbolic pyramid. As one of them said,
the four walls could be seen as the four great world
religions, all arriving from opposite directions at
the common point: where “The eye of God opens”.”
For Katia, these four sides could depict quantum physics,
psychology, mythology, and art.
Ralph Levesque THREE UNTOLD TALES
acrylic on canvas - triptych 11"x 33"
Ralph
Levesque (b. 1941) is an artist, art teacher and former
gallerist living in Higganum, CT. He has a BFA and Masters
Degree in Art Education, from the University of Bridgeport,
and a teaching certificate from Southern CT State University.
I have shown his work on two occasions since a 2008 show
at the New Haven Free Public Library. Mr. Levesque writes:
"I am a romantic visual poet, aware that all designs
and symbols are inspired by the Natural. Therefore, I
am not concerned with producing copied images. I seek
to find beauty within the concrete, behind the material
level. Instinctively and unconsciously I seek the essence
of "Universal Beauty," the intrinsic force of
all. The reality of matter is always moving, changing,
evolving and becoming anew."
In the Meeting Room of
the
Mitchell Branch New Haven Free Public Library
37 Harrison Street, WESTVILLE, CT 06515
Curated by Johnes Ruta
<>
Video camera: Mariellen Chapdelaine
Jane Gilman Fleischner SUNSET OVER A
SALT MARSH - acrylic on canvas 24" x 16"
Jane
Gilman Fleischner is an artist from Trumbull who maintains
a studio at the N.E.S.T. Art Center in Bridgeport. Ms.Fleischner
holds a BA in Fine Art from the University of Bridgeport.Her joyful
persuit is painting landscapes from Costa Rica to Europe, Utah,
and the East Coast, and her main creative focus is a reverence
for nature, color, light, and life. At home in her Trumbull CT
studio, the photos serve as a reference library to paint from.
Jane’s main focus is a reverence for nature, color, light
and life within all things. The internal story is a sometimes
elusive subject, always present her artwork.
Larry Morse - Reader
on the #2 Train - oil on canvas, 31.5" x 41.5"
Larry
Morse
is an artist, jazz drummer, and poet, also specializing in recitations
from memory of many renowned poets, who currently resides in both
New York and Connecticut.
Reading might be an escape from reality for some people, but for
artist Larry Morse reading is the answer to the social issues
affecting the reality of Black men. "How do we figure and
calculate a next step to surviving and dwelling in a culture that
clearly does not see us in total? My answer is reading, especially
in a sense of under-standing historic realities and to better
explain how things are today," said Morse. His idea is embodied
in a series of paintings called "Black Men Reading".
A Vietnam veteran, Morse has a BFA from School of Visual Arts
in Manhattan, and a masters’s degree in special education
from St. Vincent’s College in the Bronx. He worked for many
years as a teacher in the New York City public school system.
He currently works as a painter in his Bronx studio and in addition,
as a Yellow Cab driver in New York City. His work has been shown
in numerous locations around Connecticut, including City Lights
Gallery in Bridgeport, CT, the Easton Public Library and Carol
Peck's Good News Cafe & Gallery in Woodbury, CT.
Irene K Miller - SIGHTLINES 5 - monotype
24" x 24"
Irene K. Miller: “My work is influenced
by Post Minimalism and Neo-Geo and focuses on the geometry of
circles, rectangles, squares and stripes as conceptual structure
to a series of individual ideas. Layering forms relationships,
and mark-making can detail patterns that are experiential in life.
Combining ephemeral materials such as dirt, dust, seeds, plants
and hair with more concrete materials such as photos, wax paper
and thread, the work allows for pentimento and the superimposing
of serendipitous mark-making reflective of what culturally surrounds
us. Incorporating these facets into structural formations such
as topographical maps, the visual field of sight, perception,
veneers and ocular diseases, this work takes on social relevance.
https://irenekmiller.com/statement.html
Philippa Blair - WILD THINGS - acrylic
on canvas 30" x 40"
Philippa Blair: “Philippa Blair employs
a full arsenal of abstract expressionist techniques, including
the turning of her canvases so that there is no fixed point of
view. Her gestures can crash against each other like a multi-car
pile up but in fact are controlled impulses, rhythmically taut,
expertly choreographed body movements embodied in stroke and color,
a bravura orchestration that is both physical and emotional”
?
~ Lily Wei.
Ms Blair is an international artist of New Zealand, 1967
BA at Canterbury University, Christchurch, She was an Artist-in-Residence
at the Griffis Art Center in New London in 2002-2003. In
the US, her abstract paintings have been exhibited at the Wickiser
Gallery in NYC. https://www.philippablair.com/
Maralyn Adlin - FLORAL CONVERSATION
- oil on canvas 16" x 20"
Maralyn Adlin: “We live in a world that
is constructed or built by specific laws of nature. These forms
exist in the natural world and are reflected back to us through
all the arts. There may be many ways to express the structures
that underpin what we see and hear even our DNA is made in this
manner. It is who we are and how we are made. The structure which
defines the works are not always visible on the surface but they
are there underneath as a scaffold to hold up a mirror of who
we are and what we know to be true.“As a painter I
use objects or figures in interiors or landscape settings to express
abstract realities which are less about literal representation
or narrative. My story lies in paint and placement. I am interested
in intersections, vortices, and patterns that happen when objects
collide or stand apart to create a distinct tension in the negative
areas. The goal is to unify the composition with form and color
relationships that make a place of peace and calm or turn tension
into stasis.” Ms. Adlin attended the Art Student’s League
in NYC and Pratt Institute School of Fine Art, and later C.W.
Post College in Brookville, NY where she obtained her degree and
Certification in Art Therapy. https://maralynadlin.com
Don Wunderlee - SHORE LINES - acrylic
on panel 36" x 36"
Don Wunderlee: “My work is abstract.
I straddle between two genres of abstraction. My contemplative
work is reminiscent of Landscape and touches upon themes of time
and space. It is through a repetition of linear marks and earth
tones that help me achieve that. The other genre I very much enjoy
is Geometric Abstraction. It is more playful in nature, experimental
and reflects an urge for interconnectedness.”
https://www.donwunderleeart.com/
Exhibition: June 2 – July 2, 2022
Curator: Johnes Ruta, AzothGallery.com 203-668-6933 azothgallery@comcast.net
Stoimen
Stoilov - ANTECUM THEATRUM VI
original Red Conte' drawing - 42" x 30"
STOIMEN
STOILOV
STOIMEN
STOILOV was born in Varna, Bulgaria
in 1944 and is a graduate of the National Academy of Fine Arts
in Sofia, Bulgaria. He leads his visual articulations with a
Surrealist nature, and works in his studio in Vienna.
In the US, he is represented by the William Meredith Foundation
in Uncasville, CT.
For Stoimen,
line is a justified dominating force, and his visions are rich
with symbolism and indigenous history. His poetic visions encourage
viewers to imagine mythic traditions and lore. He spent time
living among the Aborigines in Australia, one of the many cultural
influences in his work. His art has also been influenced by
the poetry of friends like Lyubomir Levchev (1935-2020) Poet
Laureate of Bulgaria, William Meredith (1919-2007) Poet Laureate
of the United States 1978-1980, and the poet Richard Harteis
(b.1946).
In 1991,
Stoimen Stoilov was awarded Gottfried Von Herder Prize by The
University of Vienna. His work resides in Museum of Graphic
Arts Albertine, Vienna; the National Museums of Art in Sofia,
Columbia, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland; the Pushkin Museum,
Moscow; the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris; Yale University;
the NY Public Library, and the U.S. Library of Congress, Washington.
In the US, his most recent shows were a large 2015 retrospective,
including two 8 foot wide murals at the Slater Museum in Norwich;
exhibitions at the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington DC; the Lyman
Allyn Museum, New London; and at UCONN Avery Point, Groton,
CT.
Stoimen
Stoilov is a first-class engraver and in his recent work he
has attained a maturity of touch, detail, and expressivity of
line, and a dynamism of the imaginaire which transcends not
only the frontiers of reality, but also those of forms. The
work of Stoilov is marked by a new vision of the most obscure
recesses of the body of the being, of the animal, of nature
and environment, and minutae of the articulations and body language.
They acquire a lightness which makes them float in a space of
overflowing geometric forms, letting themselves go freely in
movement, in new imaginary landscapes.
Stoimen
Stoilov - Cosmogony
etching aquatint 23" x 30"
Stoimen
Stoilov - Pandora's Box
etching 32" x 25"
Stoimen
Stoilov - Knight and Lady
original painting - oil on canvas 21" x 25"
Stoimen
Stoilov - Woman with Bird
etching 25" x 32"
Stoimen
Stoilov - ANTECUM THEATRUM IX
original Red Conte' drawing 42" x 30"
DANA
NAUMANN
Dana Baldwin
Naumann creates fanciful and fabulous sculpture, mostly crafted
from lead sheets coated with copper or zinc patinas. Naumann's
hammered sculptures are studies in texture, soft and warm looking
even as metal surfaces, depicting religious, mythic, and archetypal
scenes.
Naumann had a successful marketing career as Vice-President
of Sales and Marketing at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, but in
1994 he determined to devote his life to his art, a decision
he says he has never regretted. He designed and contributed
sculptures pieces to the permanent collections of United States
Special Olympics, a piece on the Holocaust to the Thomas Dodd
Center, UCONN, Storrs, CT; and to the Aids Project in New Haven.
Dana Naumann's
artworks have been shown at Artworks Gallery in Hartford, Art
Expo in NYC, Gallerie Michele in Washington DC, the Mystic Art
Guild in Mystic, CT, Vital Gallery in Hawaii, the York Square
Gallery in New Haven, Fre Wil in Los Angeles, CA, and at the
Jewish Community Center in Amity, CT.
Art critic
Steve Starger wrote about his work: "Naumann's finely wrought
sculptures aren't depressing or oppressive. He draws on African
and mythological references to create monolithic faces that
are inspired by ritual masks and statuary, like monuments or
totems left by a long-vanished civilization. These elongated
faces appear aloof and ascetic, but are also strangely poignant,
and each emanates a sense of mystery and longing."
Dana
Naumann - Lightning Strikes
40lb metal wall sculpture -12" x 18"
Dana
Naumann - Waking Up from a Wonderful Dream
50lb metal wall sculpture 24" x 36"
Dana
Naumann - Shy
18lb metal wall sculpture - 30" x 9" x 3"
Dana
Naumann - The Happy Couple
25lb metal pedestal sculpture - 20" x 10" x 9"
Dana
Naumann - There is Someting Wonderful About Just Holding
Hands
80lb metal wall sculpture 36" x 36"
Dana
Naumann - Sad Eyed Lady of the Low Lands
18lb metal pedestal sculpture - 18x10
Carole Gubitz
MOROCCAN LADY acrylic on canvas 36" x
24" (1)
Born in 1934 in the Bronx, Carole Gubitz (age 85)
has devoted her life to creative pursuits. She attended
the High School of Performing Arts and was initially
trained as an actress. Her path took an unexpected
turn when her teachers noticed she possessed a voice
capable of operatic performance. Carole attended the
Manhattan School of Music and studied privately with
the eminent Metropolitan Opera baritone, John Brownlee.
Carole
Gubitz SWISS TEA ROOM acrylic on canvas 20"
x 36" (2)
Carole
Gubitz SHADES OF VERMEER: THE RED HAT oil on
canvas 32" x 26" (3)
Carole
Gubitz AT THE CLAVIER acrylic and collage on
canvas 29" x 33" (4)
Carole Gubitz
"PEACOCK" acrylic on canvas 36"
x 18" (5)
In 1960, Carole and her husband, Myron, moved to
Zurich where Carole was engaged to sing at the St.
Gallen Swiss Opera House. During that time, the couple
became affiliated with the nearby C.G. Jung Institute,
and were deeply and irrevocably influenced by Jungian
theory.
Carole
Gubitz MONT ST. MICHELE acrylic and oil on
canvas 33" x 42" (6)
Around 1964, Carole started painting and creating
collage at the advice of noted Jungian psychologist
and author, James Hillman. A founder of a movement
toward archetypal psychology, Hillman insisted that
an expressive medium was essential to Carole’s
wellbeing. The couple remained in Zurich for thirteen
years; Carole evolved into a self-taught artist, and
Myron became her promoter and agent, procuring a number
of well-received exhibits.
Carole
Gubitz THINKING acrylic and collage on canvas
32" x 26" (7)
The couple returned to the US in 1974 with their
three children and lived in several different states
in New England and the southeast, ultimately moving
to Branford in 2014. Through the decades, these shifting
landscapes bled into Carole’s depictions of her
inner world as she continued to expand her artistic
repertoire and skill, relying more on self-teaching
and instinct than on learned technique, and showing
her work along the Connecticut shoreline.
Much of Carole’s work centers on the complexity
of the human psyche as it presents itself in the exterior
world; the relationship between dream and reality
are key to her perception and vision, and her content
moves provocatively through these shifting planes.
Carole’s world never quite lands in a fixed place,
but instead continues on its ever-changing path between
the weightiness of reality and the numinous territory
of the soul.
Carole
Gubitz VESSELS acrylic and collage on canvas
26" x 34" (8)
Charles Reyburn "The-Connecticut-Shoreline -- Ferry-Headed-to-Long-Island"
oil on canvas 10" x13"
Artist’s
Statement by Charles W. Reyburn
"Our World is not static. It is forever changing. My
solution, these days, is to take my french easel
and head out into that world. I use my wooden palette laid
out with 14 to 15 oil colors and I…..
choose a composition….draw… and then… paint
(manipulate color). The challenge is to concentrate
(think) and to transfer a large or immense (if it extends
to the horizon) scene convincingly onto a canvas
rectangle, 8x 10, 11 x 14, 18 x 24 up to perhaps 48 x 36 inches.
"In our time away from our chosen vocations we often
head outside OR remain inside to observe
and explore the world around us. To reaffirm its’ life-giving
beauty and awesome powers.
All caught in glimpses in which we are feeling the present-into-the
future or are taken into feeling
our past. A painting by hand (and mind) puts you there.
"I grew up in New London, CT. Attended Rhode Island School
of Design 1974-78
and hold a BFA in Painting. I presently live in Waterford,
CT. I think of my paintings as
"moments in time” or as Corot called many of his
paintings; “souvenirs.”
Charles Reyburn "Across Fishers
to Plum Island 1-14-11" oil on canvas 11"
x 14"
Charles Reyburn "The Branford Hospice
10-01-2019" oil on canvas 11" x 14"
Charles Reyburn "Front Porch" oil
on canvas 24" x 30"
Jane Gilman Fleischner IPSWICH MORNING acrylic on canvas 20"
x 24"
Jane
Gilman Fleischner holds a BA in Fine Art from the University
of Bridgeport.
Her relentless joyful pursuit is photographing and painting
landscapes from
Costa Rica to Europe, Utah, and the East Coast.
Jane Gilman Fleischner SUNSET OVER A SALT MARSH
acrylic on canvas 24" X 16"
At home
in her Trumbull CT studio, the photos serve as a reference
library to paint from. Jane’s main focus
is a reverence for nature, color, light and life within all
things. The internal story is a sometimes elusive subject,
always present her artwork.
Jane Gilman Fleischner TIGER LILLIES AND HYDRANGEA
acrylic on canvas 16" x 20"
Jane Gilman Fleischner CITY STREET acrylic
on canvas 20" x 24"
Jane Gilman Fleischner BEAR'S EARS MONUMENT, UTAH acylic on
canvas 48" X 36"
**************************************************************************************************************
Anima : an
individual's true inner self that in the analytic psychology
of C. G. Jung reflects archetypal ideals of conduct; also, an
inner feminine part of the male personality. Animus : an inner masculine part of the female
personality in the analytic psychology of C. G. Jung. Animals : well, you know that one!
Exhibition: February 27 to April 8, 2019 10AM
- 8PM daily
My art
reveals - my love of animals and their unique personalities
- their very distinctive eyes as the windows to their soul;
of nature and its beauty - skies, trees, gardens, flowers, rocks,
water. The beauty of the natural world just awaits to be captured
by the brush. My collage mixed media works reflect my strong
sense of design and tell a story without words. The stories
reflect the joys and sorrows of women; from ancient past to
present day …. from Angels and stone goddesses of ancient
past memories to mental images of my daughter’s days as
a female in the Iraq war. My collage work tends to reveal where
my heart and inner mind are when creating the work. I guess
my heart rules my art even tho I am not aware of it during the
execution….as some of my collages have taken more than
a year to complete.
Paula Emery - FACES OF THE GODDESS -- collage,
12"h x 16"w
Associations:
Former Board of Directors Member - Clinton Arts Gallery and
the Madison Art Society; Elected artist member of the Madison
Art Society; Artist Member the Essex Art Association, the Lyme
Art Association, and Easel Insights; Represented on-line by
Fine Art America and ArtMajeur.
Education:
Graduate of University of Maine with a BA in History and Art
History, minors in Art and Education. More recently, I have
studied at the Crealde School of Art and Design, Winter Park,
FL.; Lyme Art Academy, Lyme , CT; and Lyme Art Association,
Lyme, CT.
"I
am a romantic visual poet - aware that all designs and symbols
are inspired by the Natural. Therefore, I am not concerned with
producing copied images of Nature, but, seek to find beauty
within the concrete; behind the material level.
"Instinctively
and unconsciously I seek the essence of 'universal beauty'-
the intrinsic force of all. The true artist is but a person
who understands what others only know about. Using materials
both Natural and 'man-made,' old and new, discarded/ found or
recycled; I discover their hidden truth. The hidden reality
of matter it is always moving/ changing, evolving and becoming
anew.
"My
works are like artifacts from some distant past civilization
and places unknown- pointing to new yet to be discovered worlds
and realms. The element of time revealing past and future cycles
of the universe are revealed, and appear in recognized/ yet
forgotten memories, I have been granted a gift - a 'child like
mind' - seeing the constructive patterns/ the rhythmic hidden
constructs in nature and seeing the spiritual things that it
really is. Reaching back, I allow the handcrafted, "touched
by man" to show. "Using matter; I focus on being a
conduit, through which timeless invisible sources and untouchable
mysterious forces connect the physical and spiritual."
Ralph Levesque
has experienced a lifetime of changes -- from getting his MS
in Fine Art from University of Bridgeport, to teaching art for
thirty five years in Hamden and Durham private schools, to displaying
his imaginative and award winning works in galleries all over
Connecticut.
Ralph Levesque -- FIRE IN THE EAST - acrylics
on canvas 30"h x 18"w
Ralph Levesque - MANTIS -- acrylic on canvas, 30"h x 20"w
**************************************************************************************************************
Exhibition February 26 to April 8, 2019
The
Magical Mystery of Shamanism
visionary artworks by Peruvian shaman
Pablo Amaringo (1939-2009) and his Students
From the Collection of Scott Olsen, Ph.D.
(Professor of Philosophy, College of Central Florida, Ocala)
Curated by Johnes Ruta
Reception:
Friday, May 11, 2018 6 to 8 PM
DaSilva Gallery
897-899 Whalley Avenue New Haven, CT 06515
A
presentation will be given by Scott Olsen at 7:00 PM on the
essential elements of Pablo Amaringo's art, concepts, and
workshop, as well as Prof. Olsen's personal learning
and working experiences with Amaringo, and his group.
Pablo Amaringo "Conocimientos Curvos (Curved Knowledge)"
acrylics on canvas, 20"h x 32"w
Pablo Cesar Amaringo Shuña (1938 – 2009) was an
acclaimed Peruvian artist, renowned for his intricate, colorful
depictions of his visions from drinking the entheogenic plant
brew ayahuasca. Pablo worked as a vegetalista, a shaman in the
mestizo tradition of healing, for many years, up to his death.
He painted, organized and ran (along with Eduardo Luna) the
Usko-Ayar school of painting, and supervised ayahuasca retreats.
When
he was 17, Amaringo became extremely ill, nearly dying from
severe heart problems. For over two years he could not work,
but was eventually cured by a local healer. It was while recovering
from this illness that he started to paint and make drawings
with pencil and shading with soot from lamps. From a friend
employed in a car factory he got permatex, a blue substance
with which he colored his drawings.
Amaringo
and Eduardo Luna co-authored and published the book Ayahuasca
Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman (North
Atlantic Books 1999). He occasionally gave interviews in the
years following, and later penned the preface for Plant Spirit
Shamanism:Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul (Destiny
Books 2006).
Deny Efer Rios Chavez "4850" acrylics on canvas,
40"h x 18"w
Jorge Enrique Ramierez Flores "4847" acrylics
on canvas, 40"h x 24"w
Jose
Luis Rodriquez Ysmino "4802" acrylics on canvas,
40"h x 28"w
Ruisen Flores "4838" acrylics on canvas, 20"h
x 32"w
Exhibition opening Video address by Scott Olsen,
introduced by Gabriel DaSilva and Johnes Ruta:
From
2000 to 2016, Scott Olsen, Ph.D., made two trips into the highland
Inca centers of Peru, including Cusco, Machu Pichu, and Q'ollorit'i,
and six trips deep into the Peruvian rainforest, to the very
headwaters of the Amazon River system. While working with the
indigenous tribes, including the Quero, Shipibo, and Mestizo
shamans, Olsen met the already great shamanic healer and artist
Amaringo. There Olsen was exposed to the vividly colorful and
deeply spiritual renditions of nature's life, the inner
spiritual world of plant and animal medicine teachers, and the
transformative visions portrayed in their paintings.
This
special exhibition features Scott Olsen's collection of paintings
and prints by Pablo Amaringo and his students including Alfredo
Zagaceta Cometivos, Mauro Reategui Perez, Mita Dexi Lozano Paima,
Jorge Enrique Ramirez Flores, Ruisen Flores, Ener Dias Núñez,
Deny Efer Rios Chavez, José Luis Rodríguez Ysmiño
and Juan Benavides Perez. Scott Olsen is Emeritus Professor
of Philosophy at the College of Central Florida, Ocala, and
is the author of Mysteries of the Amazon: Visionary
Artwork of Pablo Amaringo and his Students and The Golden Section,
as well as a variety of papers on the subject.
Credit
for all Photos: Paul Arthur, Appleton Museum, 2017
The
Rain Forest Comes to New Haven
By Alan Bisbort
Alan
Bisbort is a writer, editor, and researcher who has authored
or coauthored sixteen books of art, history, music, and travel
and contributed to numerous other books. His work has appeared
in the New York Times, Washington Post, Rolling Stone, In
These Times, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Advocate, and many
other publications.
What would one expect from artwork created deep in the Peruvian
rain forest, awash in the sounds of the Amazon River headwaters?
And when the artist, Pablo Cesar Amaringo Shuna (1938-2009),
was also a shaman whose work was inspired by visions arising
from ayahuasca, a plant brew that similarly dispatched Carlos
Castaneda to the furthest corners of the human mind, the art
is bound to be, at the very least, verdant and colorful.
Still,
little can prepare viewers for the work that will appear at
the Da Silva Gallery in New Haven in May 2018, from Scott
Olsen’s collection of paintings and prints by Amaringo
and the students of his Usko-Ayar School of Painting, such
as Felix Pinchi Aguirre, Alfredo Zagaceta Cometivos, Jorge
Enrique Ramirez Flores, Ener Fias Nunez and Ruisen Flores.
Olsen, a University of Florida philosophy professor, spent
nearly two decades traveling to the rain forest and Amazon
headwaters of Peru to explore this art and the shamanic tradition
that inspired it. He is the author of Mysteries of the
Amazon: Visionary Artwork of Pablo Amaringo and his Students,
which offers a visual sampling as well as a chronicle of his
trips to the Incan strongholds in Peru.
Take
“Conocimientos Curvos (Curved Knowledge)”, which
Amaringo painted in 2003. With Bosch-like detail and a palette
that redefines what greens and blues can do on a canvas, the
artist creates a multidimensional universe that embraces the
spirits that vision masters like Amaringo find in the rain
forest. Even when the meaning of the work is not immediately
(if ever) knowable, the viewer simply cannot take his eyes
off of it. Not to trivialize the work, but it is this quality
that renders much of the psychedelic art of the 1960s so timeless.
The power of the images are just as strong now, 40 and 50
years later, that they were at the time of their creation.
They are—like the work of Amaringo and his disciples—not
affixed to any artistic school or trend. They just are.
The same sense of timelessness can be seen in “Allpa
Runa (Underground Earth Spirits)” which, according to
Olsen, is the “spirit genii who live in the tunnels,
the catacombs, subterranean holes, caves, grottoes, and beneath
the cemeteries and cavities of the earthly globe.” Yes,
it may be all of those things, but it is also a stunning visual
feast the likes of which one can find the equal of in only
the finest of Persian or Hindu art. The fact that this painting
was completed on September 12, 2001—the artist no doubt
oblivious to the tragic events in New York and Washington
D.C. the day before—is enough evidence, at least for
this viewer, to suggest that forces beyond our understanding
are shaping the world we live in.
Exhibition May
11 - June, 2018 (extended).
Reception: Friday, May 11, 6 to 8 PM
Curated by Johnes Ruta 203-668-6933 azothgallery@comcast.net
DaSilva Gallery Fine Art and Framing
897-899 Whalley Avenue New Haven, CT 06515
203 387 2539
CURRENT
ART EXHIBIT AT THE DASILVA GALLERY OFFERS PROFOUND ENCOUNTERS
WITH ART & THE MYSTICAL STATES OF THE PERUVIAN SHAMANS
When you unite
the talents and experience of three eminently qualified professionals
-- a first-rate art curator, a worldly and well-seasoned professor
and a highly regarded local gallery owner -- you almost always
come up with an art show that simply cannot be missed. Such
is the art show on Peruvian shamanism presently on exhibit
at the locally famed DaSilva Gallery in New Haven's Westville
section thanks to the efforts of well-respected art curator
Johnes Ruta.
Until May 31,
2018, the show entitled "The Magical Mystery of Shamanism"
will festure the magnificent works of the late vegetalista
curandero of the mestizo tradition, Pablo Amaringo, who passed
in 2009, and his students. Amaringo and the students of Amaringo's
Usko-Ayar school of painting created these visionary artworks
from their experiences deep in the rainforest of Peru after
ingesting ayahuasca, an entheogenic concoction comprised of
plant derivatives.
At the Gallery's
opening, the collection's owner, Scott Olsen, Professor Emeritus
at the College of Central Florida, Ocala, who is well-versed
and well-experienced in the ways of the ayahuasceros asserted
that this concoction is "the fastest way to die to the
ego." He explained that ingestion of ayahuasca really
is a "dry run at death" as one attains supernormal
perception allowing for profound encounters with plants, animals
and ultimately, the Logos.
Upon viewing
these incredible artworks, there seems to be no question that
these deep mystical states are precisely what Amaringo and
his students have in fact experienced during their vision
quests. Central to the exhibit is Pablo Amaringo's painting,
"Curved Knowledge," which invites the viewer to
follow a serpentine path that ascends in both knowledge and
divinity. At the bottoms of the painting, we watch as retreat
participants are depicted ingesting ayahuasca or having its
smoke blown into the palm of their hands or on the nape of
the neck by other retreat participants. Then the visual odysseys
begin as we first encounter animals and plants and then our
eyes rise to meet ascended masters, diving beings and even
sacred geometric forms at the painting's top.
And without
eschewing the importance of the artistic and culturally iconic
masterpiece that "Curved Knowedge" clearly is, each
and every painting of Amaringo's students depicted in the
exhibit are visionary masterpieces of their own. The purples,
blues, greens, reds, oranges and yellows in all of these paintings
are just so saturated that to view these paintings offers
an experience with synesthesia. For no longer do you only
"see" the rich colors but you and I can actually
"feel" and "hear" the colors as they vibrate
with unrelenting intensity. Spirit animals like the owl, the
eagle, the cheetah and especially, the jaguar are common in
these paintings as is the lush vegetation of the Peruvian
rainforest.
Indeed, visionary
paintings such as these are not typically found on the walls
of most museums in the Western hemisphere. And according to
Professor Olsen, the reason rests primarily in the fact that
most of Western civilization is immersed in a dark and destructive
energy that is pulling us from nature and our innate divinity.
Far from being protectors of "Mother" nature, Western
civilization has cast itself far afield of the Divine Feminine.
Most of the populations of the Western hemisphere have become
saboteurs of this beautiful planet and in losing our relationship
with "Mother" nature we have virtually lost our
connection to what the plants and animals can teach us about
attaining the Logos.
Perhaps, there
is no wonder that even in Christian societies most apparitions
of the Logos (Jesus) and Divine beings such as the Virgin
Mary manifest primarily amidst simple, indigenous and agrarian
populations where there remains an intimate and enduring relationship
with nature. The apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Fatima,
Portugal to the shepherd children, Francisco and Jacinta Marto
and their cousin, Lucia Santos, are prime examples.
Undoubtedly,
there is much to the belief that there is no way to the Father/the
Son but through the Mother. And yet, according to Professor
Olsen, the rigors of pursuing an ayahuasca retreat are many.
Not only is the Peruvian rainforest far removed from the usual
comforts of civilization but the average Westerner would probably
be ill-advised to even entertain the possibility of such a
journey. Professor Olsen advised that the ayahuasceros require
a diet of extreme physical and sensual deprivations in order
to prepare the body for such a profound activation of the
third eye chakra.
But, a short
trip to the DaSilva Gallery is certainly in order where you
can enter a meditative state just by fixating on one of these
magnificent artworks. Enter by the jaguar's mouth, the mouth
of the cheetah or the headwaters of the Amazon. You won't
be disppointed.
Exhibition: February 27 to April 12, 2018 10AM - 8PM daily
Stoimen Stoilov - "Woman and Bird"
etching 31" x 24"
Stoimen Stoilov - "Power"
etching 32" x 26 1/2"
STOIMEN
STOILOV was born in Varna, Bulgaria in 1944 and is a graduate
of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria. He
leads his visual articulations with a Surrealist nature, and
works in his studio in Vienna.
For Stoimen,
line is a justified dominating force, and his visions are
rich with symbolism and indigenous history. His poetic visions
encourage viewers to imagine mythic traditions and lore. He
spent time living among the Aborigines in Australia, one of
the many cultural influences in his work. His art has also
been influenced by the poetry of friends like Lyubomir Levchev
(b. 1935) Poet Laureate of Bulgaria, William Meredith (1919-2007)
Poet Laureate of the United States 1978-1980, and the poet
Richard Harteis (b.1946).
In 1991,
Stoimen Stoilov was awarded Gottfried Von Herder Prize by
The University of Vienna. His work resides in Museum of Graphic
Arts Albertine, Vienna; the National Museums of Art in Sofia,
Columbia, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland; the Pushkin Museum,
Moscow; the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris; Yale
University; the NY Public Library, and the U.S. Library of
Congress, Washington. His most recent shows were a large 2015
retrospective, including two 8 foot wide murals at the Slater
Museum in Norwich, and exhibitions at UCONN Avery Point, Groton,
CT; New Haven, CT; and Westerly, RI.
Stoimen
Stoilov is a first-class engraver for in his recent work he
has attained a maturity of touch, an expressivity of line,
and a dynamism of the imaginaire which transcends not only
the frontiers of reality, but also those of forms. The work
of Stoilov is marked by a new vision which scrutinizes the
unequalled detail, the most obscure recesses of the body of
the being, of the animal, of nature and environment. The minutae
of details reveal, as under an X-ray, the articulations and
body language of all our living bodies. If at times human
beings and things appear in their skeletal elements, they
do not for that reason fail to acquire a lightness which makes
them float in space, a space overflowing the geometric forms
of a picture, a diptych or triptych, to let themselves go
freely in movement, in the conquest of new imaginary landscapes.
Margarita
Voinova - "Dream Garden"
oil on board, 20" x 12"
Margarita
Voinova - "Fairy Tale of Old"
oil on board, 20" x 12"
MARGARITA
VOINOVA, younger sister of Stoimen Stoilov, was born in Varna,
Bulgaria, where she lives and works. Her hand woven tapestries
decorate many hotels, banks, restaurants and cultural clubs
in Bulgaria and abroad. Her paintings and watercolors are
in the possession of numerous galleries, museums, and private
collections in Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Finland, USA,
Australia and Lebanon. She finds in her works primary archaic
signs, created in a pristine naive world bound to the mythology
of Earth and Air. For the artist these signs, symbolizing
birds, fish and human beings embody the primary idea of the
Universe and the understanding among the formations of this
world. These symbols are tranquil, intense, simple, tangible
and understandable by all people. The artist finds these signs
in the traditions of the world civilizations and in her own
being. Her contact with the Australian aborigines and their
art has been a unique experience. The harmony of colour and
shape is striking, surprising, and after all, convincing:
through her works, the artist starts a journey back to ancient
civilizations, to a culture, shared by all people.
Diana Stoilova - "Fish"
oil on board, 18"h x 24"w
Diana Stoilova - "Window"
oil on board, 24"h x 18"h
DIANA STOILOVA,
daughter of Stoimen Stoilov, lives and works in Vienna, Austria.
She was among a small group of artists first shown at UCONN's
Alexey Von Schlippe Gallery at Avery Point in Groton, CT in
2000, when this exhibition was visited by the Vice President
of Bulgaria.
In 1994,
she studied at the Academy of the Beaux Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria,
where she attended a Master Class for Pressure Graphics. In
1997, she studied at the Applied Arts in Vienna. Works of
the artist are in the collections of the Graphics Museum Carpenter,
Bath Steben, Germany, the Dialogue Foundation, Pris, France,
the Griffis Art Center, New London, CT, and in other private
collections.
**********************************************************************************
Exhibition: February 27 to April 12, 2018
"Inspired
by light, color, nature, music, and words, my work is an evolving
exploration of the beauty within these elements, gathered
and channeled into two dimensions. My intention is to leave
the world more beautiful through painting. Creative expression
has become my vocation, a sacred journey carried out through
painted colors
across a canvas, sung notes in the air, and composed words
on a page. My fundamental goal: to create harmonious canvases
that resonate and vibrate, embracing the richness of human
experience through exquisite use of color, light, and form.
"As
a practitioner and instructor of yoga, the themes of balance
and integration inspire and permeate my work. I repeatedly
rotate the canvas while working towards a composition where
the weight of color and contrast feel balanced. Intuitive
abstractions emerge through layering.
"Metaphors
for life, such as facing the unknown with courage, surrendering
the outcome guided by the heart, quieting beliefs of what
is correct to instead tune into what feels good, I use less
representational imagery and more broad forms, and follow
intuition about what comes next. This is a bold, scary, trusting,
and exciting place from which to be working, and it is my
hope that my paintings reflect the truth of that energy."
Ms. Ambrosi's
artwork is in collections throughout the US and Europe. As
a Visual Arts Graduate, she was Magna Cum Laude at Bowdoin
College in Maine,and was Artist-in-Residence at Kent Island,
Canada.
Kristen Ambrosi
"Embrace" acrylic on canvas, 20"h x
30”w
"I
create environments from natural elements to give people a
sense of place. Emotional essence and energy that connects
us to each other and everything around us. My images both
describe and celebrate the intrinsically aesthetic structure
of the natural world and the ever-present duality in all things.
I invite the viewer to see and feel the world both within
us and around us, experiencing the macro vs microelements
common to all.
"Materials
are important to me. I maintain the integrity of whatever
medium I use whether it’s pastel, paint or digital imaging.
I want each medium to have it’s own unique characteristics
to provoke the senses, be it optical impressions, viscosity,
or the unspeakable sound of elements as they hit the surface."
"Great
art picks up where nature ends.” -Marc Chagall
Kate Henderson "Monet Stones" cyto-digital
print 24”h x 30"w
"Painting-with-cells"
is how Ms. Henderson describes her cyto-Illusions series:
"I start by using microscope images of human cells and
also images of abstraction “found” in nature. Through
layering and manipulation techniques, I create an image that
mirrors micro images on a macro level. On one level the images
are a colorful abstraction that allow the viewer to freely
explore and experience the image on their own. Many images
are suggestive of a specific element such as water, but others
are more environmentally placed. On another level the images
are about the reality of nature; cells of disease, the growth
structure of plants, and the patterns of light filtered through
the leaves."
Kate Henderson "Current Electric, Blue" cyto-digital
print 24”h x 30"w
Born in
Brooklyn, N.Y., Herm Freeman earned his Phi Beta Kappa degree
from Queens College, C.U.N.Y. in 1969 and a Master of Fine
Arts in Painting from Indiana University in 1971. He studied
painting with several major American artists,including Fairfield
Porter, George McNeil, James Brooks, James McGarrell, and
Richard Serra.
He draws
his landscape inspiration from the motifs of Soutine, Cezanne
and Courbet. He is represented by Phil Demise's 'a' gallery
in NYC, and exhibits his paintings primarily in NYC and the
Northeast. Recently, he was awarded ‘Best in Show’
at the prestigious Silvermine 51st Art of the Northeast USA
Annual Exhibition.
Herm Freeman "Cubist Suburb" acrylics on
canvas 20"h x 24"w
Herm has
been teaching art in Connecticut since 1973. In addition to
his emotionally charged landscape painting, he has pursued
his musical muse throughout the years; playing guitar, keyboards
and vocals in the infamously obscure N.DoDoBand in 70's and
80's.
Herm Freeman "Promised Land" acrylics on
canvas 18"h x 24"w
************************************************************************************** Exhibition November 7 to 30, 2017
