Washington Art Association presents a watercolor class by Grace McEnaney, Spring 2016

"Rhodie"
© Grace McEnaney 
Grace McEnaney is teaching a class at Washington Art Association titled "Insights into the Myriad of Watercolor Techniques." The class runs on Thursdays from April 14 through June 2, 2016 (8 weeks), 6 pm - 9 pm.

Please see the Washington Art Association's website for details.

McEnaney is an accomplished watercolorist. She began her career as a technical illustrator later moving on to graphic design. Now her focus is fine art, paying particular attention to botanicals and architecture. She is a juried artist member of Art/Place Gallery, a signature member of The Connecticut Watercolor Society a juried member of Connecticut Women Artists. She lives in western Connecticut.

The Washington Art Association is located at 4 Bryan Memorial Plaza, Washington Depot, CT.

"Photoworks 2016" at the Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY

© Shona Curtis
"Photoworks 2016" runs from March 19 through April 30th, 2016 at the Barrett Art Center Duchess County Art Association, 55 Noxon St., Poughkeepsie, NY.

Shona Curtis, who was among the artists featured in "LOCALworks" at the Gallery at Still River Editions in early 2016, has been chosen by the jury for the exhibition. Several of her photographs will be on display.

The opening reception is on Saturday, March 19 from 3 pm - 5 pm.

"Chimera" creates hybrid monsters at Trailer Box Project

© Honorah O'Neill
"Chimera" is an interactive solo exhibition by Honorah O'Neill of Bethel, CT taking place at the Trailer Box Project, and running from March 19 through March 26, 2016. The exhibit is hands-on, and features life-sized sculptural creatures with mix-and-match parts with which the viewers are invited to "create hybrid monsters."

From the press release: "Honorah O'Neill, a painter and sculptor, studied at Ohio Wesleyan University and earned her degree in anthropology.  The owner of the Bethel Rainy Day Paperback Exchange bookstore, O'Neill has exhibited her works throughout Connecticut and has amassed a following in the greater Danbury area.  Her installation for Trailer Box Project will include animals such as a Bernese Mountain Dog, giant anteater and a velociraptor dressed in a variety of costumes, from Girl Scout to doctor.  Each creature is made up of separate parts that can be switched with other animals to make all new, imaginative hybrids."

There is an opening reception on Saturday, March 19, 2016 from 5 pm - 7 pm. The Trailer Box Project is located at 15 Great Pasture Rd., Unit 15, Danbury, CT. The exhibition is open from Tues. - Sat. from 12 noon to 5 pm, or by appointment. 

"6 Days that Changed the World" Bill Eppridge's Beatles exhibition comes to WCSU

The late Bill Eppridge's remarkable exhibition of Beatles photographs, "6 Days that Changed The World" is on view at the Art Gallery at the Visual & Performing Arts Center at WCSU from January 19 through March 23d, 2016. Please note the opening has been postponed until Saturday, February 6 from 4 pm - 7 pm. There will also be a gallery talk with Adrienne Aurichio, Bill Eppridge's editor and wife, on Thursday, February 11 at 6:30 pm. The Art Gallery at the Visual & Performing Arts Center at WCSU's Westside Campus is located at 41 Lake Ave Extension, Danbury, CT.

Eppridge was a photojournalist's photojournalist at LIFE Magazine and Sports Illustrated, and his work is among the most iconic of his generation. He was given unfathomable access by today's standards, and conveyed a deep understanding of whatever subject he was covering. He was able to follow the Beatles on their first six days in the United States, generating a body of work that captures the energy of this young band as they were discovered by a nation already full of anticipation and heady adoration. His most famous photograph, some may recall, was of a busboy cradling a dying RFK, is just one outstanding image from a career made of many. 

The exhibit was first on view in 2014 at Bethel Center for the Arts on the site of the Woodstock Festival in upstate New York. A book of Eppridge's Beatles photographs, 6 Days that Changed the World was published by Rizzoli in 2014 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' arrival in the United States. Eppridge's work is represented by the Monroe Gallery of Photography in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

The exhibit of 55 black-and-white gelatin silver prints was hand-darkroom-printed by Catherine Vanaria, who is an Assistant Professor of Art and Chair of the Art Department at Western Connecticut State University, as well as co-owner of Connecticut Photographics and Still River Editions. 


Facebook invitation for the opening.

Paul Berger exhibits at Golden Thread, Stamford Art Association, Easton Arts Council

"After the Rain"
©
Photographer Paul Berger is exhibiting in several local venues during the month of February.

The Golden Thread Gallery in West Hartford is starting their next themed show, "Essence of Home, " on January 23rd.  The show will run through April 2nd. This is also a mixed-media show. The gallery is located at the Holy Family Retreat Campus, 303 Tunxis Rd, West Hartford, CT.

And a little closer to home, the Easton Arts Council is having their annual Members Art Show. This mixed media show is in the Community Room attached to the Easton Public Library,  691 Morehouse Rd. The opening reception is on Saturday, Jan. 23, 7 - 10pm. The exhibit runs through February 27, 2016.

Stamford Art Association's mixed-media exhibition "Illusion of Light,"  at the Ferguson Library in the 3rd floor auditorium gallery.  There is an opening reception Thursday, Jan. 28 starting at 6:00 pm.  This is a mixed media show and will run through May 12.

Berger is also one of the 14 artists featured in the winter exhibition at the Gallery at Still River Editions, "LOCALworks," on view through March 25, 2016.

Lisa Cohen exhibiting at Bedford Art Show January 22-24 2016

© Lisa Cohen
Photographer Lisa Cohen is among the exhibitors at the annual Bedford Art Show January 23, 10 am - 7 pm, Sunday January 24, 11 am - 4 pm. St. Matthew's Church is located at 382 Cantitoe St (Rt. 22), Bedford, NY. There is a gala preview party (requires tickets, see the Bedford Art Show website) on Friday, January 22 from 6:30 pm - 9 pm.

The annual exhibit features paintings, prints, photographs, studio jewelry, ceramics, and drawings, among other media.

Cohen is an award-winning equine photographer who uses Still River Editions for her archival digital fine art printing. She had an exhibit titled "Saddle Horse" at the Gallery at Still River Editions in 2014.

The proceeds from the annual art show are donated to numerous charitable organizations that serve the local community.


Bill Fields "Quiet Places, Empty Spaces" at the Darien Library Art Gallery

"Bike Ride, England, 2012"
© Bill Fields
There is an opening reception for an exhibit of the photographs of Bill Fields on Friday, January 22, from 6 - 8 pm at the Darien Library, 1441 Post Road, Darien, CT. The exhibit is on view until February 7, 2016.

Artist's Statement
"I enjoy a sense of order in my photography, in capturing patterns of people or objects in their environment with the smaller elements in an image adding interest and depth to the greater view. My work is in color and black-and-white, depending on which style I believe best conveys a scene. I am influenced by an admiration for a number of wonderful 20th century photographers, including but not limited to Brassai, Elliott Erwitt and William Eggleston. I have been taking photographs since I was a boy, when my tools were a Kodak Instamatic and a Polaroid Swinger. In this largely digital age, I sometimes still shoot film. Regardless of camera choice, my goal is producing photographs that cause someone to pause, wonder or smile."

Bill Fields has spent most of his career writing about and photographing sports, mainly golf, and for more than two decades he was senior editor at Golf World magazine. This exhibition of his personal work highlights the recurring theme of peace and solitude.

"Rust and Glass" at Art & Frame of Danbury featuring the work of Tara Tomaselli and Heidrun Morgan


The exhibit "Rust & Glass" at Art & Frame of Danbury features photography by Tara Tomaselli and glass sculpture by Heidrun Morgan, and runs from January 16 through February 27, 2016. Both artists hail from Newtown, CT. Tomaselli's photographs find beauty in rusty trucks and signs while Morgan's glasswork takes inspiration from other organic forms.

The opening reception is Saturday, January 16, 2016 from 5 pm - 7 pm. There will be live acoustic music by Phoenix Tree.

Art & Frame is located at 60 Newtown Rd, Danbury, CT.

Karen Bonanno: The Painted Figure at Duffy Art Gallery

© Karen Bonanno
"The Painted Figure" is an exhibition of the figure paintings of Karen Bonanno, and takes place at The Duffy Art Gallery at Canterbury School in New Milford, CT. There is an opening reception on Tuesday, January 12, 2016 from 7 pm - 8:30 pm, and the exhibit runs until February 2, 2016.

The Duffy Art Gallery at Canterbury School is located at 101 Aspetuck Ave, New Milford, CT.

A landscape painting of Bonanno's is also included in the winter exhibition "LOCALworks" at The Gallery at Still River Editions through March 25, 2016.

LOCALworks opens at Still River Editions on January 9, 2016


"Time Unfurled" © Lori Robeau

The group exhibit LOCALworks opens at The Gallery at Still River Editions on Saturday, January 9, 2016 from 2 pm - 4 pm. It's free and open to the public. The exhibit runs through March 25, 2016.

Although we usually exhibit prints, this show features work in a variety of media.
LOCALworks includes artists Katie Bassett, Paul R. Berger, Karen Bonanno, Shona Curtis, Chris Durante, David Haislip, Jim Felice, Stacey Kolbig, Karin Mansberg, Vito Pasquale, Alegrobot, Lori Robeau, Elyse Shapiro, and Dayna Wenzel.

Bios, links and information about the artists may be found on our website.

Regular gallery hours are 8:30 am - 5 pm Monday through Friday. The Gallery at Still River Editions is located at 128 East Liberty St., Danbury, CT. Directions are available here. 

Holiday Extravaganza at the Trailer Box Project to benefit Ann's Place

Opening November 21 and running through December 30, 2015, the Trailer Box Project is featuring a sale of artist-made holiday ornaments. All of the proceeds from the ornament sale go to Ann's Place which provides a wide range of cancer support services to many people in the Greater Danbury area.

The opening reception is Saturday, November 21 from 5 pm - 8 pm.

Trailer Box Project is located at 15 Great Pasture Rd, Unit 15, Danbury. The gallery is open Thursday - Saturday noon - 5 pm. For more information, please contact the gallery at 203.797.0230 or visit their website at www.trailerboxproject.com

Extensive offerings at the Bridgeport Art Trail

The Bridgeport Art Trail takes place in Bridgeport, CT on November 12 - 15, 2015, spanning multiple venues and offering multi-disciplinary events around the city. Full information is available at The Bridgeport Art Trail's website. The kickoff party is on Thursday night at Read's ArtSpace, at 1042 Broad St., from 6 pm - 9 pm.

Still River Editions' own Lys Guillorn will be exhibiting artwork among 25 others at the Bridgeport Innovation Center on Saturday, November 14 from noon - 7 pm and Sunday, November 15 from 1 pm - 6 pm. The event was organized by Made in Bridgeport / Gallery 1212's Robin Gilmore. Guillorn will also be playing a set of music at 3 pm (preceded by Chica Non Grata at 2). The event at the Bridgeport Innovation Center is located at 955 Connecticut Avenue, Bldg 1, 2nd floor.

Nearby (walkable), there will be numerous open studios at the American Fabric Arts Building, 1069 Connecticut Ave, Bldg. 4.

Downtown there are events at City Lights Gallery, 37 Markle Court; The Arcade Mall, 993 Main St.; Read's ArtSpace, among many other venues.

SRE clients, photographers Jay Misencik and Geralene Valentine of Misencik Photography, will be participating in two events--on Saturday at Read's ArtSpace, they will be showing short videos and still photos from two Bridgeport-based documentaries they are currently producing, and on Sunday from 2:30 pm - 5 pm, at the Klein Memorial Auditorium (177 State St.), they are presenting a discussion, "ReVisit Bridgeport," about Ed Brinsko, legendary Connecticut Post photographer. The slide show will be narrated by Mike Daly, Editorial Page Director of the Connecticut Post.

There are bike and bus tours available.


"Fact or Fiction" at Bruce S. Kershner Gallery, Fairfield


© Paul R. Berger
Newtown photographer Paul R. Berger is among the artists whose work is included in the exhibition "Fact or Fiction" at the Bruce S. Kirshner Art Gallery at the Fairfield Public Library from October 17 through November 28, 2015. The library is located at 1080 Old Post Road, Fairfield, CT. There is an opening reception on Saturday, October 24 from 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm.

From the website: "These works explore each artist’s emotional response to a real or imaginary experience and are in a variety of styles, materials, and media. The show was juried by artist, Susan Sharp. It includes the following artists: Lynne Aromas, Paul Berger, Joanne Bryant, Bevi Bullwinkel, Miggs Burroughs, Elizabeth Devoll, Barbara Dierolf, Megan Garbe, Christine Goldbach, Barbara Gray, Molly Hauser, Judy Henderson, Dawn Kraemer, Phyllis Lee, Fruma Markowitz, Toby Michaels, Susan Taylor Murray, Johnny Shahnazarian, Laurene Truhn, and Al Coyote Weiner."

"Traces" at Trailer Box Gallery

Add caption
"Traces" features paintings by Natasha Karpinskaia and sculpture by Janice Mauro and takes place at the Trailer Box Project in Danbury, CT. The exhibit runs from October 17 through November 14, 2015.

From the e-announcement:
"We leave traces wherever we go, on whatever we touch, so that others who come after us can trace our experiences. Patina of time changes our traces, alters the shapes we once had, erases certain parts and details. Others who come after us see that these traces are just remnants of something that had happened to us before, that what is present now is different from what it once was. Traces cannot be defined. Words are irrelevant, attempting to capture something so perfectly intangible. We put traces in a box to protect and preserve their altered beauty, but the box itself is a remnant of something it once was, a surviving mark, under the evidence of a former existence."

There is an artists' reception October 17, 2015 from 5 pm - 7 pm, 15 great Pasture Rd, Unit 15, Danbury, CT.

Edith Borax-Morrison and Keith Johnson at Kehler Liddell Gallery

© Edith Borax-Morrison
From the gallery's press release:

Kehler Liddell Gallery is pleased to present two concurrent shows by member artists, TIME CAPSULE with pen and ink drawings by Edith Borax-Morrison, and an exhibit of NEW WORK by photographer Keith Johnson, on view from Thursday, October 15 through Sunday, November 15, with an Opening Reception on Sunday, October 18 from 3:00 - 6:00 p.m.
© Keith Johnson

Keller Liddell Gallery is located at 873 Whalley Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut. Gallery hours are Thursday through Friday from 11:00am - 4:00pm: Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am - 4:00pm. It is free and open to the public.

Why JPEG file format is not great

Let's talk JPEG file format. It's a lossy compression method (it loses image info when saved) but because of its smaller final file size, still is the default choice of camera manufacturers worldwide.

 Shooting in RAW (if your camera lets you) is currently the better choice. When your camera saves a file as a JPEG it does its own form of processing in-camera. The resulting file is basically what you get. RAW file format gives you the unprocessed file, allowing for post-processing by external software with much more control of the image exposure, color balance, highlight/shadow details, etc.

 But if your camera (or cell phone camera) only allows for saving the file as a JPEG, is it the end of the world?  No.

 Some camera raw software allow you to open that JPEG and do limited adjustments. Nothing like you can if it was a RAW file format, but some.

 But the thing to always remember, when its time to save that file after you have worked on it in your image editing software, DO NOT SAVE IT AS A JPEG AGAIN! Save your files as a TIFF or PSD if possible. Both are loss-less file formats.

 Below are two images saved as JPEGs. The top one was saved just one time. Not much loss of image quality. The bottom one was saved as a JPEG twenty times on top of itself. Notice the image degradation.

 Click on each photo to view larger version.





New York Diptychs: I & II by Robert Kalman at The Gallery at Still River Editions

"Danielle"
© Robert Kalman
The exhibit "New York Diptychs: I & II" features 22 of photographer Robert Kalman's large format black and white portraits of New Yorkers. It will be at the Gallery at Still River Editions from October 10 through December 18, 2015. There will be an opening reception on Saturday, October 10 from 2 pm - 4 pm.

Robert Kalman, who lives in Brewster, NY, uses an 8"x10" film camera to photograph people on the street in New York City. His method makes him different from other street photographers, many of whom shoot candidly with smaller cameras, or using digital gear. He asks each subjects a question, and they answer in their own writing, which appears with their portraits.

The resulting diptychs are beautiful portraits first, and also brilliant glimpses into the lives of New Yorkers. While Kalman shoots traditional black and white film, he scans his negatives as well as his subjects' writing into the computer and prints them digitally. Kalman chooses to wait until it is time to scan to see what his subject has written. While his working method is controlled, it maintains an element of surprise.

Some of the photographs were first shown at Soho Photo Gallery in April, 2015. The exhibit at Still River Editions also features new photographs from 2015 that have not yet been exhibited.

The Gallery at Still River Editions is located at 128 East Liberty St., Danbury, Connecticut.

Dimensional Contrast at Art & Frame of Danbury: Dayna Wenzel & Shona Curtis

The exhibit "Dimensional Contrast" features photographs by Shona Curtis and sculpture by Dayna Wenzel and runs from September 26 through November 6, 2015 at Art & Frame Gallery in Danbury. The opening reception will be held on Saturday, September 26 from 5 pm - 7 pm with light refreshments and a musical performance by Wendy Cahill of Sans Cherubs. There will be an artist talk Thursday, October 15 at 6 pm. Art & Frame of Danbury is located at 60 Newtown Rd., Danbury, Connecticut.


Newtown Arts Festival takes place Sept. 19 and 20, 2015

© Tara Tomaselli
Photographer Tara Tomaselli is among the artists selected by jury to exhibit and sell work at the Newtown Arts Festival on September 19 and 20 2015. The festival runs from 10 am - 6 pm both days (rain or shine) outdoors at Fairfield Hills Campus, 3 Primrose St., Newtown, CT.

The festival also hosts music, dance, poetry and demonstrations. A schedule is available here.

Members of SCAN and Flagpole Photographers will be there as well discussing membership and giving demonstrations.