Changing Seasons
Spectrum Art Gallery Exhibit Opens September 23
Summer may be slowly coming to an end, but the stunning beauty of the fall season is upon us. Celebrate those colorful scenes of the season with both outside and interior imagery at Spectrum’s newest exhibit, Changing Seasons – Inside and Out. Discover new artwork by artists from throughout Connecticut, the Tri-State Area, and New England from September 23 through November 6. Start with the Opening Reception Friday, September 23 (6:30-9pm) and visit the Open House Weekend, Saturday, September 24 (1-6pm) and Sunday, September 25 (1-5pm).
Artists presenting at Spectrum include award-winning painter Sang Han, a Korean-born contemporary landscape painter with a flair for highly detailed panoramic scenes of nature both bursting in life and poetic in silent isolation. His typically deserted landscapes are harmonious plays on light, color, and shadow, blended with layers created by brushes and textured with paint knives. Elizabeth Demaras, new to Spectrum, is a representational artist who has lived in the hills of Vermont, New York City, and now on the Connecticut Shoreline. She paints the natural environment, people, and interiors. Fields of color, and impressionistic structures convey the moment and mood.
Nancy Peel Gladwell brings the great Renaissance genre of narrative art into a contemporary vernacular. Her compositions have become more abstract as she explores color-shape relationships. Award-winning artist Jeannette Delmore works in a variety of mediums. She experiments with watercolor and finds the flow and mystery of the medium allows her to express herself even more. Presenting at Changing Seasons is painter Kate Galambos who celebrates design, contrast, value, line, and color by composing images that express energy and hope; she presents an autumnal mixed media piece. Pam Peters also presents; she has a life-long passion for art as she works in her studio and paints en plein air.
Painter and interior designer Michelle Grosjean uses the process of watercolor as a form of meditation and sees nature, buildings, objects in still life and their environment through multiple perspectives. At Spectrum she presents several vibrant land and waterscapes. Sue Mullaney returns to Spectrum Gallery with new work. An award-winning collage artist and photographer, her subjects range from the natural world to more surreal environments such as imagery of ordinary objects juxtaposed in surprising ways. Victoria Williams brings a quiet serenity and optimism through her contemporary impressionist paintings. Landscapes, still life, and floral works are favorites. Other painters and mixed media artists returning to Spectrum include Barbara Rossitto, Ceal Swift, Dan Nichols, Daniel Dahlstrom, Diane Rubacha, Diane Ward, Gloria Nilsson, Glynnis Sorrentino, Jill Butcher, John Murray, Lisa Fatone, Marjorie Sopkin, Patricia Corbett, Regina Thomas, Stephanie Rogers, Tammy Blais, Deb Churchill and Bivenne Harvey Staiger.
Photography is well represented and includes work by Allison Maltese whose photographs are characteristically a colorful blend of nature and art. She grew up in Killingworth, drawing inspiration from the woods and gardens on the family’s rural property. Maryann Flick, a gallery favorite, offers a new photographic work that perfectly captures the show’s current theme with rich color; she also presents fine-crafted glassworks. Mary Dutko came from the world of floral design and has taken her powerful ability to use color, balance, texture, and design into her photographic work. Photographer Mallorie Ostrowitz looks beyond the larger landscape, focusing on extraordinary details of ordinary objects, a close-up approach, reflections, and how light interacts with architecture. Other photographers include favorites such as Carol Lowbeer, Carol Dunn, Erica Nava, Maria Johnson, Paul Ramsey, Robert Thomas, and Sergio Villaschi.
The Gallery’s Store includes many fine artisans working in porcelain and stoneware, polymer clay, glass, fabric, wood, and paper. Susan Dangle has had a needle in her hand as far back as she can remember. Her needle arts progressed from sewing dolls and stuffed animals to intricate embroidery. Her current passion is beadweaving, in which every design is fashioned using needle and thread, one bead at a time, primarily with glass seed beads. Amy Handler developed her signature “upcycle” bottle lights when she saw wine bottles used in an indoor watering system. When she held them up to the light the reflections reminded her of stained glass. She now reworks them as pieces for decoration, nightlights, low-light settings, romantic evenings, and more.
Hayne Bayless is a well-known ceramic artist who abandoned wheel-throwing early on, preferring the freedom of handbuilding afforded by slabwork and extrusions. He uses silkscreens and stencils with slips to finish the surfaces of his functional works. Bayless has received awards at the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, DC, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. Monica Hewryk returns to Spectrum with new original work that pushes the boundaries of pottery. New to Spectrum is potter Annamaria Moran who uses hand carving and sgraffito (applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colors to a moistened surface). She is attracted to shape and form, but also loves the aesthetic, decorative elements.
Metalsmith Beverly Waters welds, fuses, solders, hammers, brazes, enamels, and cold connects metals, while integrating silk, paper, paint, and organic materials into her new wall vases. Woodworker Bill Waldron has been involved in fabricating objects from wood for five decades. He has taught fine art, ceramics, cabinetmaking, crafts, and art history to all ages from kindergarten to adults. Jean Gresham presents her high-end stained glass and fused glass home décor items as well as her unique fused glass jewelry line. Artisan Tom O’Connell is passionate about his glass work; he creates whimsical and abstract home décor items, and other more practical and functional pieces, to bring the beauty and fun of glass to others.
Fabric artist and designer Michiyo Shinohara presents new outfits and accessories. Shinohara (a.k.a. Shino) was born in Japan and majored in fashion design and handicraft at Bunka Fashion College, a school known for producing many prize winners in the Japanese fashion industry. Many other fine artisans working in a variety of mediums include Valerie and Kristen Owens, Andy Teran, Justin Gerace, Elaine Sych, sculptural glass artisan Joan Weir, Joanne Brown, Linda Reid, Lynn Webber, Lynne Scullion, gourd artists Marie Angersola and Ceil Rossi. Spectrum’s wide range of new and innovative jewelry pieces will also be available by designers such as Beth Terhaar, Sue Braden Hull, Dawn Lombard, Kristie Foss, Sandra Huber, Linda Saucier, Joan Wenzel and many more.
Spectrum Art Gallery and Artisans Store is open Wednesday through Saturday (12-6pm) and Sunday (12-5pm). Shop Spectrum Anytime at spectrumanytime.com with shipping available throughout the US – a perfect choice for convenient gift giving all year long, with gift cards also available in the Store and online. For more information call (860) 767-0742 and visit spectrumartgallery.org. Follow on social media at facebook.com/spectrumartgallery, instagram.com/spectrumartgallery, and twitter.com/spectrum_ct