Nancy Lasar's "Drink the Wild Air" at Five Point Arts East Gallery

“Strange Attractors, 2021” © Nancy Lasar
Graphite, colored pencil, collage on rag paper

The exhibition “Drink the Wild Air” featuring work by Nancy Lasar will be on view at Five Points Arts East Gallery in Torrington, CT from October 28th through December 3, 2022. There is an opening reception on Friday, October 28th from 6 pm - 8 pm. There will also be a virtual artist talk on November 18th at 6:30 pm

A print retrospective by John Wilis will be in the West Gallery during the same time.

Five Points Gallery is located at 33 Main St., Torrington, CT.

"Articulated Expression: new work by Shona Curtis" at Five Points Annex

The exhibition “Articulated Expression” which features new work by Shona Curtis will be on view at Five Points Annex in Torrington from October 28th through November 20th, 2022. There is an artist reception on Friday, October 28th from 6 pm - 8 pm.

By posing and photographing iconic fashion dolls, action figures, and mannequins, Curtis explores gender, identity, and relationships.

Five Points Annex Gallery is located at 17 Water St., Torrington, CT.

Phyllis Crowley at 2022 Open Source Festival in New Haven

Photographer Phyllis Crowley is among the artists at Erector Square in New Haven opening their studios to visitors as part of 2022’s Open Source Festival (formerly called City Wide Open Studios).

This year’s theme is “In Common Spaces.”

Crowley’s studio will be open noon - 5 pm on Saturday, October 22 and Sunday, October 23d at Erector Square, 315 Peck St., Building 2, 1st Floor, Studio N, New Haven, CT.

For a full listing of scheduled programs as part of the festival please see Artspace New Haven’s website.

"On the Line" opens at Trailer Box Project on Sunday, October 16th, 2022

© Cathy Vanaria

The exhibition “On the Line” opens at Trailer Box Project in Danbury on Sunday, October 16th, 2022 with a reception from 2 pm - 4 pm. Artists are Bob Keating, Niki Ketchman, Katie Bassett Langin, Janice Mauro, Honorah O’Neill, Elizabeth White, Cathy Vanaria, and Jim Felice.

Photographer, educator, and Still River Editions’ co-owner Catherine Vanaria will be exhibiting large-scale prints made from scanner photographs.

Vanaria says of this body of work, “In the early days of lockdown, the living room TV became my distraction where, with cable remote in hand, I would find myself scanning the channels for interesting conversations between the various talking heads. It was during one of these sessions, that I picked up my wand scanner and scanned the screen. This proved to be my ah-ha moment.”

Trailer Box Project is located at 12 Francis J. Clarke Circle, Bethel, CT. The gallery is open by appointment, by calling (203) 797-0230.

"Lord of Yrself: Paintings and drawings by Elisa Flynn" opens Saturday, October 8th at The Gallery at Still River Editions

“Breakaway” © Elisa Flynn

“Lord of Yrself”, a solo exhibition of paintings and drawings on paper by Elisa Flynn, opens Saturday, October 8th at The Gallery at Still River Editions in Danbury, CT with an opening reception from 2 pm – 4 pm. It is free and open to the public. The exhibition runs weekdays through December 23, 2022.

The works in the exhibition are mystical in feel, and draw the viewer into landscapes populated by strange creatures. Traces of humankind and its destructive tendencies are seeded throughout.

Elisa Flynn is a Brooklyn, NY-based musician, artist, writer, and producer. Her visual art features anthropomorphized animals that exist in open landscapes, and reflect her deep love of all things dark and gothic. Flynn creates works in mixed media, textiles, and woodcut. In the last two years, many works have been based on stanzas from Dante’s Purgatorio.

Elisa received a degree in Fine Art from SUNY Purchase in painting and printmaking, and has worked as a fine arts registrar for many years. She is a performing musician, and has exhibited her visual art in the Northeast and California. Elisa ran an artist’s co-op gallery — Gallery Thirteen — with a group of 6 other artists, in Danbury, CT in the late 1990’s. From 2012 to 2020 she produced the music and spoken word series Tripeg Lobo, in Brooklyn, NY and New Haven, CT.

Regular gallery hours are 8:30 am - 5 pm Monday through Friday (closed holidays: October 10th, November 24th-25th).

“The Legacy of Bill Eppridge” at the Monroe Gallery of Photography

Short video introduction to the exhibition from Monroe Gallery

A retrospective of the work of legendary photojournalist Bill Eppridge (1938-2013) will be on view at Monroe Gallery of Photography in Santa Fe from September 30 through November 11, 2022. There is a gallery talk via Zoom on Friday, September 30, starting at 5:30 (MDT), with Eppridge’s wife, longtime editor, and collaborator Adrienne Aurichio. Adrienne Aurichio is the Director of the Bill Eppridge Photography Archive. Registration here.

Monroe Gallery is located at 12 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, NM.

New York Artists in Their Studios - Ben Martin opening at Artplex Gallery, Los Angeles

Roy Lichtenstein, 1962, Ben Martin © Kathryn Leigh Scott

An exhibition of photographs by Ben Martin of New York artists in their studios opens at Artplex Gallery in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 30, 2022 with a reception from 4 pm - 7 pm. Artists Martin photographed include Roy Lichtenstein, Mark Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler, Larry Rivers, and Marisol Escobar. The photographs offer a glimpse of the New York art world in the early 1960s.

The exhibition is mounted in partnership with Kathryn Leigh Scott, Martin’s former wife, close friend, and business partner with whom he founded the publishing company Pomegranate Press.

Still River Editions printed a number of the photographs in the exhibition.

Artplex Gallery is located at 7377 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA. The exhibition is on view during regular gallery hours (Mon. -Sat. 10 am - 6 pm, Sun. noon - 6 pm) through Saturday, August 6th, 2022.

Gene Moore’s exhibition “The Inner Sanctums” opens on 7/9 at The Gallery at Still River Editions

“Vectors” © Gene Moore

Gene Moore’s exhibition “The Inner Sanctums” opens on Saturday, 7/9 at The Gallery at Still River Editions with an opening reception from 2 pm - 4 pm. The event is free and open to the public.

The exhibition “The Inner Sanctums” consists of a select collection of visual works by Danbury, Connecticut artist Gene Moore, created primarily during the past ten years. Moore used pen and pencil, paint, and digital media to create the works in the exhibition, which runs from July 9th through September 30th at The Gallery at Still River Editions in Danbury.

Moore says of his work, “With the exception of artists who have historically dealt in repeated themes (Pollock, Warhol, even early Islamic art), my influences have not drawn so much from visual arts. Music—particularly free jazz, experimental, and psychedelic rock—acts as my main source of inspiration.”

Still River Editions printed Moore’s digital drawings on archival paper, and Chris Durante framed the exhibition.

Gene Moore is a life-long artist, musician, human rights activist, husband and father who lives in Danbury, Connecticut. Moore has worked as a musician with bands such as Hat City Intuitive, Prana-Bindu, and he currently plays with Litmus. Moore has recorded and released several albums with bands in the New York City and Northampton, Massachusetts areas including the free music quartet LPs Cosmic Hallways (Feeding Tube, 2011), Morfina (577 Records, 2017), as well as a solo project entitled Twisting Wires (Ecstatic Peace, 2001).

The Gallery at Still River Editions is located at 128 East Liberty St., Danbury, CT. Regular gallery hours are 8:30 am - 5 pm M-F. Free and open to the public. The Gallery at Still River Editions will be closed from July 25-29 for vacation and September 5th for Labor Day.

Gene Gort: Drawn to Code at Five Points TDP Gallery

Weather or Not: Current Conditions, 2022 (data visualization using live weather tower data) © Gene Gort, commissioned by Five Points Art Center

Gene Gort’s exhibition Drawn to Code opens at Five Points TDP Gallery in Torrington, Connecticut on Friday, June 24th, with a reception from 6 pm to 8 pm. The exhibition runs through July 30, 2022. There is a virtual artist talk on Friday, July 8th from 6:30 pm, moderated by Matthew Best.

Gort writes about his work, “In 2015, I began working with computer programming as a means to produce ‘drawings’”; images generated from computer code which create animations, data visualizations, and digital prints resulting from these programs. I am drawn to the concepts of interactivity, repetition, variability, and unpredictability the process allows. This work continues to evolve using strict geometries, gestural images, and photographic/videographic sources. When presenting the work in a gallery setting, I show both the animations and the digital prints to demonstrate the process.

Using computing as a mode of working has also been realized in multi-media performance projects with a number of composers, dancers, and musicians, and has become central to my practice. Computing doesn’t replace the artistic gesture but extends it, creating options not achievable previously in my work. Documentation of this work is accessible at https://genegort.com/NEWwebSTUFF/CodeProjects.html.”

In addition to prints of code-based works, the exhibition includes a work commissioned by Five Points Art Center called Weather or Not: Current Conditions “for permanent installation on the new campus and as an online web project. It collects weather data (wind speed, direction, temperature, radiation, humidity, time of day,…) from a tower on the grounds and combines it with live RSS news feeds from CNN, New York Times, Al Jazeera, and Fox News into a live data visualization.” More information about the project may be found on Five Points’ and Gene Gort's websites.

Five Points Gallery is located at 33 Main St., Torrington, CT.

Grace Scharr McEnaney featured in Fine Art Connoiseur Magazine and Catharine Lorillard Wolfe 125th Juried Annual Exhibition

“Town Bricks, Casa Grande Trading Post, Cerrillos, New Mexico,” 2020, watercolor on paper @ Grace Scharr McEnaney

Grace Scharr McEnaney was one of the seven accepted artists from The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe’s 125th Anniversary Juried Annual Exhibition, chosen to be included in an article appearing in the June issue of Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine highlighting Catharine Lorillard Wolfe’s legacy as an art collector and philanthropist. Catharine Lorillard Wolfe was the only woman among the 106 original founders of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The exhibition runs from June 20th - 30th, 2022 at the Salmagundi Club, 47 5th Avenue, NY.

"Scratching the Surface: David Haislip" opens Sat. 4/23 at Still River Editions

The Gallery at Still River Editions will be hosting its first opening reception in two years on Saturday, April 23, 2022 from 2 pm - 4 pm celebrating the exhibition “Scratching the Surface: David Haislip.” The exhibition features abstract mixed media artworks by Oxford, CT artist David Haislip. The reception is free and open to the public, and there is ample parking in our lot.

Our staff is fully vaccinated, and if any visitors and patrons feel more comfortable masked, that is very welcome. We ask that anyone who has symptoms of illness please visit another time.

More information about the show here.

Other events in the area: there is an exhibition closing for “Tangible Traces” at Brookfield Craft Center beginning at 5 pm, curated by WCSU graduating senior Daisy Gesualdi, who exhibited at The Gallery at Still River Editions in 2020.

"Tangible Traces" at Brookfield Craft Center opens April 2

The group exhibition “Tangible Traces” opens at Brookfield Craft Center on April 2nd, 2022, presented in collaboration with Western Connecticut State University. Daisy Gesualdi, a graduating senior art major at WCSU, curated the exhibition which features Janice Mauro, Ellen Schiffman, and Isabella Saraceni. It runs through April 24, 2022, and there will be a closing reception on Saturday, April 23d from 5 pm - 8 pm.

From the press release: ”Tangible Traces is an exploration of vulnerability through time and its connection with human existence. Vulnerability can appear in multiple forms, some tangible, others conceptually. It may appear as gradual aging, decay seen in nature, or worn walls of an ancient city. In an attempt to understand and heal through spirituality and art, diving into it with confidence is our resilience and strength. Each artist explores this concept through their diverse use of material and their connections to anthropology, archeology, spirituality, and the natural world.”

The Lynn Tendler Bignell Gallery at Brookfield Craft Center is located at 286 Whisconier Rd. , Brookfield, CT. Gallery hours are Tues.-Fri. noon - 5 pm, Saturday 11 am - 5 pm, and Sunday noon - 4 pm. (Please always check with the venue in case of holidays/closures not listed here.)

WCSU MFA Thesis Exhibition 2022

The Gallery at the Visual and Performing Arts Center at Western Connecticut State University is hosting the MFA Thesis Exhibition 2022 from March 24th through April 10th 2022.

From the program’s materials “The Master of Fine Arts is the terminal degree for practicing, professional artists. The MFA Thesis Exhibition is the capstone experience of the graduate program, demonstrating a personal direction and mastery in the work of the artists. This year, four graduate students will present their thesis work: Janelle Chandler, Kelsey Gilmore, Don Houston, and Robert Charles Hudson.”

The opening reception is Thursday, March 24th 6 pm - 8 pm. It is also Art Alumni Night. Free advance tickets are available here.

The Gallery at the Visual and Performing Arts Center at WCSU is located on the Westside Campus at 43 Lake Ave Ext, Danbury, CT.

Collecting, Indexing and Reshaping at The Norwalk Art Space opens March 17th

The group exhibition “Collecting, Indexing and Reshaping” opens at the Norwalk Art Space on March 17th with a reception from 6 pm - 9 pm featuring a comedy performance by Michelle Lee at 7:20 pm and Sculpted Latin Jazz Ensemble 7:30 - 9 pm. The exhibition was curated by and features work by Korry Fellow Joseph Fucigna, and also includes work by Beau Bardos, Vincent Dion, Chris Durante, Francisco Mandujano, and Margaret Roleke.

The Norwalk Art Space is located at 455 West Ave, Norwalk, CT.

"Scratching the Surface" by David Haislip on view now at the Gallery at Still River Editions

© David Haislip

“Scratching the Surface” is an exhibition of mixed-media works on paper, art board, foamcore, glass, and metal by David Haislip on view at the Gallery at Still River Editions through May 27, 2022. A reception celebrating the exhibition will be held in the spring.

Haislip uses techniques with ink, lacquer, varnish, paint, and carbon; some of his works incorporate small branches and other natural forms, glass, found objects, and even cat whiskers. 

The works that comprise the exhibition are part of Haislip’s personal collection, meant to be viewed as a whole. Over the years, he has made a lot of work, discarded pieces that didn’t resonate, and kept only what was most important to him. Within the exhibition, there are several distinct bodies of work, but Haislip would rather have viewers create their own impressions instead of imposing ideas on them. 

A number of the pieces feature incisions into a substrate highlighted by soft, brown carbon marks made by burning. Haislip said of this technique, “I make work out of whatever it is I have on hand. One day, I made a bunch of scratches on a piece of paper, and I wondered how I’d emphasize them. Ink wasn’t going to work, and I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll burn it.’ I found I could emphasize the textures of the holes and ridges by burning them. There’s an interplay of light and shadow as it catches the ridges and dips.” He added “I don’t start out with ideas or a thought, I just make something and it morphs into the end result, and then I look at it. If it’s interesting, I work with it. There’s nothing that needs explanation.”

The Gallery at Still River Editions is located at 128 East Liberty St., Danbury, and is open 8:30 am - 5 pm Monday through Friday. The gallery is closed on Presidents’ Day.

Lisa Nelson featured in Sometimes in Winter exhibition at Studio Hill, Woodbury

a single perfect snowflake perched on snow on a branch

© Lisa Nelson

Lisa Nelson’s photography is featured in the exhibition “Sometimes in Winter: A Multi-Media Experience” at Studio Hill, 507 Main St., Woodbury, CT. Also featured in the exhibition are Nancy August, Aleksandra Bowie, and August Gross. The exhibition runs through March 6th, 2022, and there is an opening reception on Sunday, February 13, 2022 from 3 pm - 5 pm.

The gallery is open from 11 am - 5 pm Wednesday through Sunday.

Karen Bonanno: Recent works at The Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens

a contemporary painting of three women reclining on a beach

© Karen Bonanno

An exhibition of recent paintings by Karen Bonanno is featured at the Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens from February 19 through March 28, 2022, with an opening reception on Saturday, February 26 from 2 pm - 5 pm. Also on view are paintings by Heather Scofield.

The gallery at the Judy Black Memorial Park is located at 1 Green Hill Rd., Washington Depot, CT.

Mohamad Hafez "Unsettled Nostalgia" opens February 10 at WCSU VPAC Gallery in Danbury

© Mohamad Hafez

The artist Mohamad Hafez is featured in a solo exhibition at the Gallery at the Visual and Performing Arts Center at Western Connecticut State University titled “Unsettled Nostalgia”. The exhibition runs from February 10 through March 7, 2022. There is a free opening reception Thursday, February 10 from 6 pm - 8 pm. Advance reservations for the opening are required via Eventbrite. Masks and social distancing are required.

In addition there is a special event, “No Place Like Home: Exploring the sights, sounds, and tastes of the Middle East with artist Mohamad Hafez and guests,” on Thursday March 3 from 6 pm - 8 pm at the Veronica Hagman Concert Hall at the VPAC. Click on the above Eventbrite link to find the free event. Registration is limited.

From the gallery’s materials: “A Syrian-American artist and architect, Mohamad Hafez was born in Damascus, raised in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and educated in the Midwestern United States. Expressing the juxtaposition of East and West within him, Hafez’s art reflects the political turmoil in the Middle East through the compilation of found objects, paint, and scrap metal. Using his architectural skills, Hafez creates surrealistic Middle Eastern streetscapes that are architectural in their appearance yet politically charged in their content which addresses the devastation of war, feelings of displacement, and nostalgia for home.

The Department of Art was awarded a $13,000 National Endowment for the Arts "Project Grant" to support "The Home Project," in which Hafez will pursue an extensive program of collaborative art installations and exhibition, student mentoring, public lectures, and other activities during a year-long residency in the WCSU Department of Art that will begin in August and continue through the end of the 2021-22 academic year. Through these diverse and interactive exchanges, he will draw from his unique experiences and artistic works to challenge participants in the project to create their own artistic interpretations of the meaning and concept of home to be exhibited alongside his work in the exhibition.”

The gallery is located on the second floor of the Visual and Performing Arts Center at Western Connecticut State University at 43 Lake Avenue Extension in Danbury on the Westside Campus of Western Connecticut State University. Please see the gallery’s website for operating hours and special events.