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UNDER
500: PAINTINGS, PRINTS AND SCULPTURE
APRIL
30 –JUNE 14, 2009
BENDHEIM
GALLERY
ARTISTS
RECEPTION: SATURDAY, MAY 16, NOON TO 4PM
UNDER
500: PAINTINGS, PRINTS AND SCULPTURE is an exhibition of works by
43 artists all of which are priced for sale under $500. The show was
jointly organized by Dorianne Hutton Samuels, GAC Gallery Chair, Tatiana
Mori, GAC Curator, and Paul Master-Karnik, GAC Executive Director.
The over one hundred artworks included in the exhibition display a
wide array of media. Artists include such important names in twentieth
century art as Larry Rivers, David Hockney, Henry Moore, and Jim Dine,
as well as important younger and emerging artists
The
artworks are all priced under $500 in order to encourage viewers to
collect the works of contemporary and emerging artists, demonstrating
that quality art can also be affordable.
HERE
IS WHERE WE ARE: CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY
March 12 through April 15, 2009
For
Spring the Bendheim Gallery at the Greenwich Arts Council presents
the work of eight contemporary American photographers in an exhibition
entitled “Here Is Where We Are”. The individual works are
quite diverse illustrating the many different aesthetic and technical
directions that photography has taken today. Color pervades the show
and the human figure, frequently distorted, also appears as a major
theme.
Landscapes,
such as Joshua Smith’s “Baker Beach”, present a fractured
composite of the coastal scene across San Francisco Bay which brings
the viewer close into the foreground while projecting the pictorial
space well toward the horizon. Adopting a completely different perspective
Zachary Paris photo “Chicken” portrays an enclosed barnyard
space with a chicken and an axe upright on the chopping block, seeming
to indicate the inevitable fate of the chicken and a meditation upon
life and death. Some of the works depict exotic places and some are
abstract descriptions of emotional states, such as Patrick Donahue’s
“The Trial”.
This
group of important emerging photographers are bi-coastal being drawn
from the Connecticut and San Francisco areas. Included in the exhibition
are: Freda Banks, Dave Buone, Jamie Sherman Donahue, Patrick Donahue,
Zachary Paris, Avi Smith, Josh Smith, Leta Ward.
The
show runs from March 12 through April 15. There will be an Opening
Reception for the artists on Thursday, March 12, from 6 to 8pm, which
is free and open to the public.
For
more information about the Bendheim Gallery or other programs and
events of the Greenwich Arts Council, please call 203-862-6750
92nd
ANNUAL JURIED EXHIBITION OF THE GREENWICH ART SOCIETY
FEBRUARY 5 – FEBRUARY 28, 2009
For
the month of February the second floor galleries of the Greenwich
Art Council,s building at 299 Greenwich Avenue are presenting
the Annual Juried Exhibition of the Greenwich Art Society.
The show consists of 70 works which are a diverse mix of oil
and acrylic paintings, watercolors, mixed media, sculpture,
photography, and prints. Together they present a solid overview
of the many ways that artists are working today. Abstract
and representational art works are included along with examples
of work using a great variety of techniques.
Juror
for the exhibition was Paul Master-Karnik, PhD., who is currently
the Executive Director of the Greenwich Arts Council. Formerly
Dr. Master-Karnik was Director of the DeCordova Museum and
Sculpture Park in Lincoln, MA, and the New Jersey Center for
Visual Arts in Summit, NJ.
The
Greenwich Art Society is among the oldest art associations
in the country, and this is the society’s 92nd Annual
Juried Exhibition. All works in the show are for sale.
Frank
Smurlo: Landscapes
January 8-31
Reception: January 8, 6-8 pm.
Frank
Smurlo’s paintings evoke his love of nature. Basically
self-taught, he has developed an accomplished technique which
displays the many moods of the outdoors. Much of his subject
matter is drawn from his experience of the Hamptons on Long
Island where he spends every summer. The paintings engage
the viewer in a studied meditation on light and shadow while
displaying a highly distinctive sense of place. They invite
a “walk” into the picture’s space, where people
do not appear, thereby allowing the depicted landscape to
take center stage. Time literally stands still as nature asserts
its timeless beauty.
David
Webber: Animals
January 8-31
Reception: January 8, 6-8 pm.
Webber’s
photographs depict animals in their natural environments.
Many stare forthrightly at the viewer becoming “up-front
and personal”. Frequently cropped and advanced into the
foreground of the picture space, these photos are intimate
portraits of their subjects. The animals are poised, with
their strength held at bay by the photographer who simply
implies their ferocity. Overall, Webber provides a safari
which transcends time and place.
Contemporary
Master Prints Show
November
22 through January 5
untitled, Jasper
Johns, 1977
This holiday
season, The Bendheim Gallery will host an exhibition of original prints
by well-known contemporary artists. GAC’s gallery chair, Dorianne
Samuels, a widely recognized expert on modern prints, will once more
take the lead in assembling a selection of such works, which play
a key role in today’s art world. A variety of techniques will be represented,
including etchings, lithographs, and serigraphs – to name a few of
the many print mediums being explored today. As with other recent
Bendheim print shows, this one will offer the whole community an opportunity
to view works by internationally famous artists, while making choice
prints available for purchase by area collectors.
This exhibition
is made possible, in part, through the support of RBS Sempra Commodities
and Dorianne Hutton Fine Art.
Beauty
and Truth, the paintings of Joel Griffith
oil
on panel
October
9 through November 9
View from Tivoli,
oil on panel, 40" x 60"
An update
of the revered Hudson River School landscape painting tradition will
be on view at The Bendheim Galllery this fall. Living in the heart
of the Hudson Valley, 29-year-old artist Joel Griffith portrays the
region’s rolling landscapes and dramatic skies with striking realism,
but also includes the hardware of today’s life in the valley – power
lines, tire tracks in the snow, and trailer homes.
Scism Rd. Trailer,
oil on panel
While his
work has sometimes been categorized as "photo-realism," he prefers
to call it "observational realism." "I am the camera," he says, but
“my exposure time might be four months." For this show, he has prepared
the statement: "I paint the world so I may see the world, to try and
know it in all its depth and complexity, to witness its beauty and
truth." Notably missing from the paintings are people. "Humans are
just outside of the pictures," says Griffith, "but the residue of
humanity is everywhere."
Keller House Farm
Samples
of Griffith’s work have already been seen locally in such shows as
last year’s Art to the Avenue event and Art Society of Old Greenwich
juried show. On his home turf, he has been named the Painter Laureate
of Tivoli, where is completing a series of seven paintings documenting
the town for permanent display in the village's historic Watts de
Peyster Hall.
House On WK
The artist
grew up in Tivoli and earned a BA with honors from Grinnell College
in Iowa in 1996. He then studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lacoste,
France, and in 2003 received an MFA from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson,
New York. He now lives in the Hudson River town of Red Hook.
Freeborn Lane
Broadway
GALAXIES
– micrographs by David Malin
October 9 – November
9
David
Malin’s high quality photographs of stars, galaxies, and nebulae,
taken with some of the world’s finest optical telescopes using
ordinary cameras, will be on hand in the Director’s Hall of The
Bendheim Gallery. GALAXIES will be a companion exhibit with the
“observational realism” paintings of Joel Griffith.
Afghanistan:
Through the Burqa
This
successful show that displayed works by Photojournalist Janet Durrans
took place between September 4 - October 4, 2003.
Pace Prints - 30 Years of Printmaking
What makes a self-portrait comprised of lots of colorful, squiggly lines or a cartoon ? like depiction of Grand Central Station move you? Who can say? But through special tours made available by the Greenwich Arts Council office, the opportunity for exploring these questions as well as many more concerning the contemporary prints from the Pace Galleries in NYC were arranged. Part of the docent program was a series of special tours and workshops for school children conducted by the Arts Council?s Youth@Art committee. Youth@Art worked with Cos Cob on a pilot after school program, led by professional artists, exploring the various arts disciplines. This pilot program included a guided tour of Pace Prints ? 30 Years of Printmaking.
Pace Prints ? 30 Years of Printmaking explored the works of renowned artists such as Jennifer Bartlett, Chuck Close, Jim Dine, Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Claes Oldenburg, Louise Nevelson and Red Grooms. The exhibition of over 30 prints was composed of several printmaking techniques such as etching, aquatint, woodcut, silkscreen, lithographs and linocuts. Pace Prints ? 30 Years of Printmaking has been curated by Nan Lvoff, Claire Henriques and Benjamin Ortiz. All prints were for sale and a percentage of the sale price included a tax-deductible donation to the Greenwich Arts Council.
This exhibition ran from November 14 through December 20, 2003.
All works are courtesy of Pace Prints, NY.
"Pizza"
by Claes Oldenburg
Diego
Rivera, Raul Anguiano, Mario Martin del Campo, and Rufino Tamayo were
just a few of the contemporary Mexican master and cutting-edge artists
who were featured Fall 2004 in the Bendheim Gallery exhibit Mexico:
Yesterday & Today / Ayer y Hoy. Timed to coincide with Mexican
Independence Day, September 15, and ran during Hispanic History Month,
this visually arresting exhibit displayed paintings, sculpture, prints,
photography and works on paper in oil, pencil, collage and mixed-media
by 25 artists whose diverse styles date from 1930 to 2004. Co-curated
by Reyna Henaine, Nan Lvoff, and Benjamin Ortiz, Mexico: Yesterday
& Today / Ayer y Hoy launched the GAC new student docent program.
All the art work was for sale.
 The
opening for Mexico: Yesterday & Today / Ayer y Hoy was a departure
for the Greenwich Arts Council with a special preview and fiesta reception
on September 17. A silent auction of a donated print provided by Henanine
Fine Art was offered at the opening. The next day, September 18, internationally
renowned writer and lecturer Hayden Herrera presented a free lecture,
sponsored by the Greenwich Library and held at the Arts Council Meeting
Room, on Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Reservations for the preview
fiesta reception and a guaranteed seat at the lecture were $30, reserved
in advance ($15 for students and seniors), and, along with any art
sales, benefited the Greenwich Arts Council.
 The
September 18 lecture brought to Greenwich a world-renowned art historian
and authority on art of the past century. Hayden Herrera has curated
several art exhibitions, has taught Latin American art at New York
University, and has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is the
author of numerous articles and reviews for such publications as Art
in America, Artforum, Connoisseur, and The New York Times. Her books
include works on Henri Matisse and the contemporary American artist
Mary Frank. Her recent work on another American artist, Arshile Gorky:
His Life and Work, was one of three finalists for the 2004 Pulitzer
Prize in biography.
 Herrera's
book, Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo, is widely considered the
definitive work on the artist who will be the topic of her Greenwich
lecture. As understanding of Modern art has evolved in recent decades,
Kahlo?s work has appeared to increase in stature. The stormy events
of her life ? richly entwined in the art and political movements and
personalities of the early 20th Century ? have been the subject of
the widely honored film Frida.
Like
Mexican art, the Modern Architecture of Mexico has been both unique
to its country and internationally influential. Among its early-20th-Century
landmarks are the radically Modern pair of house-studios built for
Frida Kahlo and her husband, Diego Rivera, and experimentation continues
to be hallmark of Mexican architecture today. In another event related
to this art exhibit, local architecture writer-editor John Morris
Dixon offered an illustrated talk on Mexican architecture at the Arts
Center on September 30.
Mexico:
Yesterday & Today / Ayer y Hoy
was sponsored in part through the generous support of Sempra Energy
Trading, the Rittmaster Foundation, the Mexican Cultural Institute,
the Greenwich Library, and Flagship Networks, Inc.
Bold,
strong, lush and aggressively gorgeous color describe the large-scale
modernist landscape works, oils on canvas and oil pastels on paper,
of the late artist Joseph DiGiorgio.
The
Greenwich Arts Council, with the cooperation of the DiGiorgio Estate,
was proud to present an exhibition of this master of contemporary
pointillism, at The Bendheim Gallery from November 12 through December
18.
DiGiorgio
was a painter of visual sensuality. His celebratory, mystical, ideal
landscapes of the US are the most beautiful ever made. His visions
of the land are at once colorful, personal, haunting images and
dreamscapes, and yet, at the same time, also strong and accessible.
What
is most obvious about the landscape painting of Joseph DiGiorgio
is that it is composed of dots, a methodology which is Zen-like,
where small dots of paint coalesce into a field of color and form.
It is a combination of this abstraction and realism that became,
for DiGiorgio, a way for setting down his feelings and vision, capturing
his freshness, spontaneity and his spirit of creativity.
The
Art of Joseph DiGiorgio
had an opening reception on Friday, November 12, from 6 to 8 pm,
and ran at The Bendheim Gallery through Saturday, December 18.
Click here to read Joseph DiGiorgio's bio
Click here to read page one of the price list from the show
Click here to read page two of the price list from the show
Kimberly Meuse
watercolor still lifes of delicately crafted and embellished silver tea
service pieces and hand-worked fabrics
Painstakingly built up in layers of watercolor, Kimberly Meuse?s paintings depict the play of sunlight on antique fabrics, droplets of water on flower petals, and complex reflections on glassware or silver. After years of working as a computer graphics illustrator/designer, Meuse was inspired when caring for a newborn son to focus on the tranquility and visual richness to be found on a tabletop at home. Her paintings will be shown in The Bendheim Gallery from February 3rd, the date of her public reception, until February 26.
   
Two artists with different visions will share the Bendheim Gallery from April 7th to 30th, with an opening reception on the 7th. Individuals ? alone or in pairs ? are typically subjects of Lora Shelley?s paintings in rich colors, dark shadows, and often with exaggerated perspective. Her subjects, she says, ?are not models, but they are beautiful, not stars except in their own private dramas.? Her exhibition partner, John McLane, usually portray the human figure as well, but less literally. He paints in acrylic overlaid with ink lines that often swirl in a way reminiscent of Jackson Pollack, enmeshing bodies and figures with various degrees of realism or abstraction. Shelley studied art at Rhode Island School of Design and McLane at Wesleyan.
Lora Shelley
Bobsled, John McLane, Acrylic on Canvas, 4ft x 4ft
Cherry Koke, John McLane, Acrylic on Canvas, 4ft x 4ft
Ten Types of Toes, John McLane, Acrylic on Canvas, 4ft x 4ft
Lora Shelley
Untitled, John McLane, Acrylic on Canvas with Wood Frame, 4ft x 5ft
Untitled, John McLane, Acrylic on Canvas, 24in x 30in
Lora Shelley
paintings and fine art pottery
What do paintings and pottery have in common? In the work of husband-wife artists Jacqueline Cohen and Vaughn Smith they emerge from the same studio and share themes of everyday rural life rendered in cheerful colors. Cohen, the painter, works on paper in gouache, acrylic, and collage, producing country and town scenes that often show whimsical juxtaposition akin to those of Marc Chagall and dense compositions reminiscent of Paul Klee.
The pottery works of Smith reflect his education as a sculptor and printmaker. On his tiles and wheel-thrown vessels, he applies up to four layers of colored clays to create playful images in various degrees of relief. The couple works out of a studio in High Fall, in the Hudson Valley, where the public is welcome to observe their work in process. Their works will be on view in The Bendheim Gallery from May 5, when there will a be public reception, until May 28.
photography
oil paintings and drawings
In September, Bing came to The Bendheim Gallery. Bing is the pseudonym of Greenwich artist Marian Bingham whose work is credited with supreme subtlety, showing traces of
her having lived in the Far East.
As a painter of horses, Bing is part of a rather complex and notable tradition. But her desire is to represent the horse as something besides a powerful, natural force.
Even in relatively straightforward, narrative depictions, Bing"s horses take on a mystical aura, whether ridden or unfettered. She has been praised for a Horse Dream
series that record her reactions to a dream world populated by horses. Her works, whether oil on paper, monotype or mixed media, provide light, soft-toned, fluid
depictions of the grace and harmony of the equine world.
Bing / Equi Painting opened on September 8 with a reception from 6 to 8 pm, and continued at The Bendheim through October 1.
Pictures from Opening Night
*Photos courtesy of Oscar Garcia
Torso Inca
Form II
Figure Sketch
El David
Head
Natural
*Photos courtesy of Frances Ashforth
Mexico
Mexico Sian Kaan
Idaho Fields
Idaho Fields #2
Idaho Fields #3
Deerfield Meadow
Deerfield Meadow #2
Water Lily #2
Rockwall #1
Rockwall #2Pictures from Opening Night
Philip Guston, Car
Vija Celmins at Gemini G.E.L., working on Night Sky (Reverse) 2002.
Photo: © Sidney B. Felsen, Los Angeles, CA 2002
We are honored and delighted to be working with the Greenwich Arts Council in the presentation of Gemini G.E.L.- 40 Years of Printmaking. Founded in 1966, Gemini G.E.L. (Graphic Editions
Limited) has collaborated with many of the most accomplished and best-known artists of our time in the creation of limited edition sculpture and prints of all media, including lithography, etching, screenprint, and woodcuts. We hope that the diverse selection presented will give a glimpse at what these artists have created in our workshop during four decades of artistic collaborations.
The exhibition will include works by David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Elizabeth Murray, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Serra, and many others, and the works on view will visibly
demonstrate the spirited collaboration that takes place between artist and printer. At Gemini, the artists do all of the drawing or carving themselves directly onto the printing element, be it
limestone, copper plate, woodblock or other materials. The artist closely supervises the "proofing" and stays at the workshop until a "RTP" (Right to Print) is achieved. Whereas the proofing
session – a period of experimentation and concentrated effort on the part of Gemini's Master Printers – may last on average a week to two weeks, edition printing may take several months, and each
impression in the edition must closely match the approved RTP. Once the edition printing is completed, the artist returns to the workshop to examine and sign the edition. Each print is signed and
numbered by the artist as well as embossed with the Gemini "chop."
As Gemini's New York City exclusive representative of over 20 years, our gallery has been a resource on the East Coast for collectors and scholars to see much of Gemini's history. A member of the
International Fine Print Dealers Association, we mount historical exhibitions and present new editions as they are published. A resource on a much grander scale, the Gemini G.E.L. archive at the
National Gallery in Washington, D.C., functions as an important study center. Founded in 1981, it includes one example of each of the over 2000 editions published by Gemini. The Gemini on-line
catalogue raisonné (www.nga.gov/gemini), created and maintained by the National Gallery, is an invaluable resource, providing detailed information on the history of the workshop and all of the
artworks in the archive.
I look forward to seeing you at the exclusive invitational preview reception, Thursday, November 9, where you will meet other members of our "team” including the Director of my New York gallery,
Carla Camacho, our assistant and Greenwich native Christina Moisant Weyl, and my husband and co-founder of Gemini Los Angeles, Sidney Felsen.
Joni Moisant Weyl, Owner
Gemini G.E.L. at Joni Moisant Weyl
(For pre-paid reservations to the Preview, Lecture and Champagne Reception on November 9th, call the GAC office by October 28, 622-3998. Tickets are $75 per person).
Ellsworth Kelly, Untitled (Red)
David Hockney, Above and Beyond
PClaes Oldenburg, Apple Core – Autumn
Robert Rauschenberg, People for the American Way
Elizabeth Murray, Radish
Sam Francis, Falling Star
William Claps
Nature and figurative paintings and drawings in oil, acrylic, pastel and mixed media
Dancing With Pink, 2003, oil on canvas, 34" x 56"
Ascension, 2003, oil on canvas, 32" x 54"
What do you get when you combine a fine art portrait exhibition, a Valentine reception, and weekend workshops with nine portrait masters? Answer: Faces of Winter 2006 -- A Portrait Festival! Sponsors are the Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists (CSOPA) and The Greenwich Arts Council, who will host portrait events February 3-26 at The Bendheim Gallery and the Arts Council meeting room. Chairing the festival is David Luchak with Honorary Chairperson Erika Hall. This much-anticipated biennial event brought record attendance in 2004 and promises to do the same this year. Activities will start with a public opening reception on Friday, February 3, 7 to 9 pm. Portraits in the form of paintings, drawings, or sculpture will be included in the exhibition and have been judged for cash and ribbon awards by world-renowned artists Everett Raymond Kinstler and Charles Reid. CSOPA is accepting reservations for weekend workshops February 4 and 5, featuring lectures and demonstrations by celebrated portrait artists. "Each member of our distinguished faculty is a star in the world of classical portraiture," observes CSOPA founder and co-chair, Jeanine Jackson. Seating is limited to the first 50 to register, and the fee for both days is $200.
Click here for more information, including an Image Gallery, Award Winners, Honorable Mentions, and Event Photos!
David Luchak, The Black Hat, oil on canvas, 30 x 25 inches
Amanda, by Sophia James
A Family of Artists
Enid, Antonia and Olivia Munroe
Mixed media collage and constructions; paintings
Opening on April 9 in The Bendheim Gallery will be an exhibition of paintings and collages by three people in the same art-focused family, Enid Munroe of Southport and her daughters Antonia and Olivia. The three have previously shown artworks together at the Greenwich Library in 1970 and at Fairfield University in 1986. Their works have, of course, continued to evolve over these decades.
Enid Munroe will exhibit a new series of paintings, "The Walls of Italy," based on the layers of materials, scars, and graffiti so often seen on building surfaces there. Along with these, she will show collages and assemblages, using new and historical elements organized in loosely gridded systems – sometimes including recycled pieces of her own earlier efforts. Her works are included in many private and corporate collections and several museums.
Daughter Antonia of Camden, Maine, will show a new series of still life paintings and drawings, and Olivia of Black Rock, Connecticut, will contribute new beeswax and mixed media paintings and collages. All three artists have exhibited widely on their own and taught in a variety of settings.
Two other Munroe daughters are actively involved in the arts: Victoria as director of galleries in Boston and East Hampton and Alexandra, who was until recently vice president and art director of the Japan Society in New York, and is now senior curator of Asian Art at the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan. Harry Munroe’s career as a corporate executive gave the family opportunities to live for several years in Mexico and Japan, absorbing the exceptional aesthetic experiences those countries offer.
Enid Munroe, Walls of Italy
Antonia Munroe, November Nest 3
Oliva Munroe
Color Fields
Joan Busing
Monoprints
A colorful show of monoprint art by Joan Busing, entitled "Color Fields", comes to The Bendheim Gallery on May 11 and runs through June 3. Monoprints are a form of printed painting made in a process that produces a single copy of the work.
The exhibit will include 50 to 60 pieces of art by Ms. Busing, a photo display explaining the monoprint process and exhibition of a book owned by Columbia University and illustrated with her original artwork. The paintings in this show will be abstract and emphasize color.
To produce her monoprints, Ms. Busing works in a New York City studio with a master printmaker skilled in monoprint technique. In this process the artist paints on plexiglass plates that are then applied to paper with meticulous attention to alignment of the separate colors. From two to ten plates are used for a single painting.
The wife of architect David Busing, Ms. Busing is the founder and director of a private art school for gifted high school students in Westchester County, NY. A native of West Hartford, CT, she studied at Bard College and did post-graduate work at Columbia University.
The Persistence of Paint
The Bendheim Gallery of the Greenwich Arts Council hosted the Painting Center of New York, July 7 through 29, in a diverse and lively exhibit entitled The Persistence of Paint. The five painters included in this show, Carrie Patterson, Elizabeth Yamin, Anne Russinof, Carmela Kolman, and Geoffrey Dorfman, were selected by the Arts Council’s gallery committee along with staff curator, Tatiana Mori, from a panel of fourteen artists submitted by the Painting Center.
The exhibit was designed to demonstrate diversity in the use of painting language and the vitality of paint as a means of communication. The Painting Center is dedicated to promoting the art of painting in all its diversity and does not champion one school or style.
Carrie Patterson works much like a choreographer would in subtly altering the arrangement of line, shape and color in repetitive action, not on a dance floor but rather on a canvas. She received her MFA at the University of PA and has also studied at the NY Studio School, James Madison University, and the British Institute.
Carrie Patterson, Slant of Life, oil on canvas, 26" x 28"
New York City-based Elizabeth Yamin has been strongly influenced by her studio location, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, with its sense of hugeness, weight and inspiring decay. She received her MS in Museum Education at the Bank Street College in Manhattan.
Elizabeth Yamin, charcoal on paper, 19" x 11.5"
Anne Russinof’s forms suggest something along the lines of cellular biology. Each painting comprises variations on a theme of primarily doughnut-like shapes sometimes with the center circles filled in. She received her training at the Pratt Institute in NY and the Art Institute of Chicago, IL.
Anne Russinof, Fleshy, oil on canvas, 18" x 14"
Carmela Kolman received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1982 and an MFA from Yale University School of Art in 1984. She has exhibited widely in NYC. About her work she says, “As a former figure painter, I have turned my attention to fruit because they are living, voluminous objects that, like the human form, decay over time.”
Carmela Kolman, Peaches, oil on canvas, 20" x 20"
Painter, writer and musician, Geoffrey Dorfman received his BFA from Cooper Union in Manhattan, and his MFA from Syracuse University. As an associate professor at the College of Staten Island/CUNY since 1978, he has taught painting, drawing and modern culture. He has authored several articles on painting for Artforum and on music for Stagebill, and his recently published book, “Out of the Picture: Milton Resnick and the New York School” has received rave reviews.
Geoffrey Dorfman, Herald, oil on canvas, 42" x 46"
The opening for The Persistence of Paint was Friday, July 7, from 5 to 8 pm, beginning with an artists’ talk,
“Painting as a Spiritual Discipline.”
In September, the Bendheim Gallery will juxtapose the very different -- but consistently modern – works of two Greenwich residents: Penny Putnam’s richly colored watercolors and Andrew Hall’s three-dimensional constructions in the neutral colors of their raw materials.
Girl In A Window
Hall, who is the chair of arts (visual and performing) at Brunswick School, has had a long career in art teaching, exhibiting his own work only in the past five years or so. A native of Burnley, England, in an area famous for fine clay products such as Wedgewood and Doulton, he assisted his pottery craftsman father at Pennine Studios and attended North Staffordshire University, Britain’s premier school for the study of three-dimensional design. He has worked in textiles and has designed objects for production, but is now showing only his current works that make imaginative use of clay.
November
Hall shapes the clay by bending and marking it, then fires it once with no glaze, producing a matte surface with no applied color. To complete his works, he typically combines the clay pieces with found metal components and grasses. In addition to his educational responsibilities at Brunswick, he has long taught at the Clay Arts Center in Port Chester, where he has exhibited and is a member of the board.
Potting Shed
Penny Putnam has been devoting full time to painting since her 1999 retirement from a partnership in a New York firm specializing in package design. A Florida native, she studied design at the University of Florida and began her design career in the office of Raymond Loewy, a famous pioneer in the field of industrial and graphic design.
Secret In An Orange Envelope
While she has worked in various mediums, her Bendheim Gallery works will include only her watercolor compositions, which show remarkably bold color and textural effects for that medium. While resolutely abstract, her works are typically inspired by real-life visual perceptions. She has won awards in many regional shows and has been included in the highly competitive Faber Birren annual in Stamford. She is on the board of the Silvermine Guild of Artists and has been an officer in the Greenwich Arts Society, whose current logo and graphics she designed.
Peter Gish brings an appealing collection of seascapes, landscapes and still life paintings to The Bendheim Gallery in October. The show will have a strong coastal Connecticut flavor and will include some of the artist’s well-known lighthouse paintings. Gish, who has been a combat artist, will add some of his works from the U.S. Marine Corps Art Collection to the wide-ranging exhibit, as well as a few distinctive portraits. He works in oil, watercolor, and pastel, with an emphasis on color and texture.
Victorian House on Mohegan Bluffs, oil on canvas, 37” x 46”
During World War II Gish trained as a naval aviator and decided on a painting career. He then studied art history and worked with Paul Sample at Dartmouth College. In 1957-58 he attended Oskar Kokoschka’s Sommerakademie in Salzburg, and in 1959 was Kokoschka’s assistant. He earned an MFA degree from Yale in 1964. He served as a combat artist with the Marine Corps in Viet Nam in 1997 and again in the early 1990’s in Iraq and Somalia. He retired with the rank of colonel.
In 1992 Gish retired from Fairfield University, where he had been an Art Department faculty member for 21 years. A 40-year resident of Greenwich, Gish now lives and paints in Saunderstown, RI.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1960, and raised in the United States, Fernando Martinez is, by profession, a furniture designer who has been designing and producing functional pieces for over 16 years. Most recently, the furniture pieces he has created have been centered on the idea of fictitious pieces with an imagined history, for which he has written elaborate texts to tell the unique “life story” of each work. In his paintings and wall-hung works, Martinez draws inspiration from commercial, hand-painted signs, adding sociological and psychological twists that avoid easy interpretation of his pieces. His works have appeared in a group show at Greenwich Library and has been widely exhibited in the New York and Boston areas.
Allan Tannenbaum is a renowned photojournalist. Throughout his years, he has documented both celebrities in the arts and in the political arena. The basis for his show is his recent book “New York in the 70s”.
A native of Passaic, NJ, photojournalist Allan Tannenbaum always found New York City an exciting place. He conveys his fascination with the city in The Bendheim Gallery exhibit, New York in the ‘70’s/Postscript 9/11. Based on his 2003 book, New York in the ‘70’s, and his role as the award-winning photo editor for the SoHo Weekly News, the exhibit show will include as a “postscript” his coverage of the World Trade Center destruction in 2001, which he describes as “the most powerful experience of my life.”
Tannenbaum has assembled a personal photographic diary of the many aspects of New York life, chronicling the city’s politics, society, nightlife and history, capturing everything from street gangs to disco divas, from the homeless to Hollywood stars. A high point of his career for the paper was photographing John Lennon and Yoko Ono for a special article on the couple. The low point was the murder of Lennon 10 days later.
After the Soho paper closed, Tannenbaum joined Sygma Photo News as a staff photographer and covered many international events. His work has been published in Newsweek, Time, Life, Paris Match, Stern and other publications. In 1989 he won a first prize in the Spot News Stories category at the World Press Photo competition.
New York in the ‘70’s/Postcript 9/11 will open on November 30 and run through January 27. Tannenbaum’s studio portraits, nighttime flashes, and street photography paint a unique and often unseen picture of New York City.
The Greenwich Arts Council and Greenwich Magazine presented the winners and selected contestants of the 2006 Greenwich Magazine Photo contest in an exhibition titled
Images of Greenwich, in the Director’s Hall of The Bendheim Gallery, 299 Greenwich Avenue.
Alexandra Bishop, We Gather Red Secrets
This event, developed by Greenwich Magazine through their annual contest for amateur photographers, presents color and black-and-white pictures of people and places in the town. The Arts Council co-sponsored this exhibit which included the 16 prize winners. The grand prize was awarded to Alexandra Bishop for her photo, We Gather Red Secrets (shown above).
Editor-in-Chief Donna Moffly said “Greenwich Magazine is just delighted to have the exhibit give exposure to the winners and other contest participants. There is beautiful material here and about one third of it is the work of students.”
Besides Ms. Moffly, the judges for the contest were Muffy Fox, the magazine’s project editor, Bob Capazzo, staff photographer for the magazine, and Tatiana Mori, GAC staff curator.
The first spring show in The Bendheim will feature the current sculpture of Susan Manspeizer, juxtaposed to a selection of Japanese prints produced over the past century.
A resident of Pound Ridge, Manspeizer works mainly with wood, often in thin strips or sheets, painted or left natural, and bent into complex forms. The curvilinear lines of the wood’s edges, along with its broader surfaces, can suggest a kind of abstract calligraphy in three dimensions. Her work can vary in maximum dimension from less than two feet to about seven feet, can be wall-hung or freestanding, and is meant for indoor display.
The sculptor’s current work is conceived as a tribute to women – to their strength, their generosity, and their caring nature. Women, she says, “bring forth new life,” and she has tried to capture their human feelings in her sculpture. She was very much affected by the tsunami of 2004, and a work titled “Tsunami Women Weep” is one of several she has produced related to this tragedy. She has had numerous solo shows in New York galleries and nearby at such venues as the Silvermine Guild Arts Center and the Alternative Space for Contemporary Art in Armonk, and one of her sculptures has been selected for the permanent collection of the Zimmerli Museum in New Jersey. She is now represented by the Walter Wickiser Gallery in New York.
Historically, the Japanese woodblock print has been one of the high points in the evolution of the visual arts. Starting in the 1700s, a series of masters of the print medium produced richly colored woodblocks, documenting the metropolitan culture of the Edo period with bold compositions and unusual vantage points. This distinctive Japanese art form waned in the early 20th Century, then underwent a series of revivals, reaching new levels of accomplishment in the 1950s and subsequent decades. Compositions, colors, and textures remain adventurous, and subject matter has become more cosmopolitan, reflecting Japan’s intense cultural involvement with the entire world. The Bendheim Gallery show will include a broad selection of these exciting and timely works.
The Manspeizer show also includes a separate exhibit of Japanese prints courtesy of Merlin C. Dailey & Associates, Inc., Japanese Prints and Fine Arts of Asia.
Since the 1970s, prints as a form of original art have enjoyed a remarkable revival. Many of the most famous artists of recent decades have found print-making an area most congenial to their more adventurous efforts. The renewed interest in prints among artists has been accompanied and supported by a the establishment of several print-making studios that have helped advance the technical development of such mediums as lithograph, etching, and silk screen.
To produce such prints, the artists themselves work directly on the materials such as metal plates, stone slabs, or sheets of silk that will be employed in the process. When the prints are “pulled,” these artists then sign those that meet their exacting expectations. The resulting works are obtainable at a fraction of the prevailing prices for unique works by the same artists.
This spring, the GAC’s Bendheim gallery will exhibit – and offer for sale – prints in a wide variety of mediums, by many artists whose names are recognized around the world. Among the artists whose work we expect to include are Josef Albers, Carol Anthony, Christo, Helen Frankenthaler, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Motherwell, Elizabeth Murray, Ed Ruscha, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol.
“You may house their bodies, but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow.”
Kahlil Gibran
It is safe to say that no one in the world was left unaffected
by the devastation of the recent tsunami in South Asia. Hundreds of
thousands of people lost lives and homes. Although the suffering and
shock of this tragedy will be long-lasting, one cannot imagine or measure
the effect of such loss on the lives of children. Thanks to Hands On
Thailand, a community of volunteers from all over the world led by American
Mike Cegielski, the rebuilding of lives has begun.
But how do you rebuild spirit? Photojournalist Janet Durrans
was sent to Thailand and Indonesia to cover the aftermath of the tsunami.
While on assignment there she was deeply moved by the faces and stories
of the children. By providing the children with watercolors and paper,
she encouraged them to paint about what had just happened in their young
lives. The resulting artworks, filled with saturated color and striking
imagery, tell of a time before, during, and after the tsunami.
This is their story.
(Wave of Terror, Wave of Hope was exhibited at
Reilly Hall of The Bendheim Gallery from May 12 through May 30. All
the works were available at a minimum tax-deductible donation of $100,
all of which went directly to benefit Hands On Thailand)
©Janet Durrans 2005
©Janet Durrans 2005
Yvonne Boogaerts, Liquid Table installation
From June 7 to 30, The Bendheim Gallery housed a group of challenging installations exploring the PROCESS through which abstract, non-descriptive art is created. Staff gallery curator L. Tatiana Mori conceived this show, an unprecedented one for the Arts Council. It gave viewers exciting insights into the steps artists go through in creating their work. The eight artists taking part in the exhibition were Yvonne Boogaerts and Lucia Ravens of Greenwich, Katherine D. Crone, Carla Galler, Steve Perkins, Donna Ruff, and Ines Villanueva, all of New York, and Gerald Saladyga of New Haven.
Steve Perkins, Mosiac
Yvonne Boogaerts creates a sculptural installation for sensual interaction on a micro-to-macro scale. Colorful, semitransparent forms are suspended from the ceiling to cast a world of light and fantasy that echo on a liquid table of swirling primary colors. This concept came to Yvonne as a result of a challenging and illuminating graduate program; her conceptual and spatial perspective evolved from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, from representative to evocative, challenging viewers to exercise their imaginations. As people manipulate the colors within the tables, their responses will vary widely, engaging a childlike wonder in us all.
Lucia Ravens, A Portrait of Peace
Artist Katherine D. Crone’s works are visual journals. Her subject matter is light and shadow, water, reflections, architectural details and panoramic landscapes. Her process for the Sculptural Books begins with a review of photographs. Simultaneously, she makes maquettes of shapes and proportions to find the best marriage of form and image. After altering the image with a computer, she prints them directly on fine silk organza or transparent film. The “pages” of the sculptural books are bound with traditional bookbinding techniques, creating three-dimensional work of art.
Ines Villanueva
Carla Galler’s work is an interactive installation that serves as a reminder of a historic but lost art form. Her Shooting Gallery is based on antique carnival shooting games. These machines are now being dismantled because their parts are in great demand as Americana, with collectors are paying lofty sums for them on eBay and at auction houses. Carla found that it was possible to recreate these games in a virtual space, inviting players to experience them in a digital environment. She hopes to impart to the user a sense of their loss.
Carla Galler, Clown
For artist Steve Perkins the journey of creating his work took him far away, to Thailand. Through his video installation, he wants viewers to experience the vast influence a culture has on an artist. His work is the result of well considered, meaningful travels that have stimulated his imagination. It is also a reflection of an ancient civilization pushing towards modernity.
Katherine D. Crone, Maidstone Evening
Lucia Ravens’s installation, A Portrait of Peace, explores interpretations of the concepts of peace, diversity, and spirituality to encourage interactive communities. The work invites the viewer to take a step toward peace, to arouse consciousness to the level where every individual’s actions matter. Her art is inspired by and dedicated to the memory of her late father, and through it she wants to carry on her father’s humanitarian spirit.
Gerald Saladyga, 9th Square Light
Donna Ruff introduces the idea of the book as an authority on the spatial, dimensional, and psychological reading of aesthetic objects. Her work Five Boroughs was conceived out of one her childhood memories. Her grandparents owned a scrap paper company in Chicago, which sold old books as scrap by weight; but they first slashed each page, so that they could not be resold. Her grandmother would then tape the pages in books for Donna and her sister, making for a somewhat disjointed and sticky reading experience. Five Boroughs is made of old telephone book pages. To the artist, each page documents the existence of hundreds of individuals who appear and disappear every year in the body of the book. She presents this work as an elegy: to the handmade, to the life lived, to the words unspoken, to the book re-bound.
Gerald Saladyga’s installation is an ongoing exploration about construction and imagined light in all its forms and colors. The idea behind this work originated during the summer of 2003 when he was walking through the neighborhood of his studio in the Ninth Square section of New Haven during a time of major reconstruction and renovation. One could not help noticing the interaction of bright sunlight and dense shade on the chromatic spectrum of the new and old construction. Multicolored painted factory windows were one particularly outstanding subject for this effect, and they inspired his Renovation of Light; multicolored layers of paint washes and applied dots.
Ines Villanueva’s works are based on the idea of search. The best way to describe her work is as a sacred milestone of a feminine symbolism. The artist’s constant search for something that is not yet expressed has taken her on a journey of self-discovery. She wants viewers to know that art is within our deepest being, and invites them to experience her work as pieces of continuous process, where one can exist, contemplate and dream.
GWe invite everyone to enjoy the diversity of these works. We hope that with this Arts Council exhibition will challenge viewers to think outside normal bounds, to gain an understanding of the world behind abstract art works and installations, and – most important – to enhance everyone’s art experience.
The Greenwich Arts Council will launch the new gallery season this fall with whimsy and color in JUST FOLKS, a folk art exhibit and sale at The Bendheim Gallery. Co-curated by Cindy Ross and GAC staff curator Tatiana Mori, JUST FOLKS will feature a wide range of art from around the world.
Laurie Carmody Ahner, international folk art specialist and owner of Galerie Bonheur, St. Louis.
Folk art describes a wide range of objects that reflect craft traditions and is generally produced by people who have little or no academic artistic training, nor the desire to emulate “fine art.” The turn of the 21st century saw an increase in work by self-taught folk artists, possibly because of the growing number of retired people with time to spend on new ventures. Along with painting, sculpture, and other decorative art forms, utilitarian objects such as tools and costume can be considered folk art.
Frank Usrey, Crow Series
JUST FOLKS will open on Friday, September 7, with an invitational fundraiser. A public opening and special weekend “buy and take” sale is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, September 8 and 9.
Frank Usrey, Crow Series
Mose Tolliver, Peace Bird
Karl Mullen, Untitled
Karl Mullen, Untitled
Karl Mullen, Untitled
Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Dirty Toto
Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Cotton Pickers
featured painting, print media, photography, and installation
A.D. Hunt, Performer 2006
A.D. Hunt, The Ambassador 2007
Andrew Small, Untitled 2006
Andrew Small, Untitled 2007
Parsley Steinweiss, Peak 2007
Parsley Steinweiss, Sweet Nothings 2007
Multi-media installation featuring over 100 original Flexitoon puppets and marionettes, props, costumes and set pieces.
See Flexitoon in YouTube action by going to www.flexitoon.com and clicking on the PULLING STRINGS image.
Quentin Regos: Bree, the Cheesemaker’s Daughter, Hamlin
Quentin Regos: Mr. Roquefort, Hamlin
The Marin Collection: Queen, King & Rabbit, Alice In Winter Wonderland
Paul Bastin: Vlad, The Hamptoons
Paul Bastin: Puppeteers Olga Felgemacher & Craig Marin
John F. Hill, photographer
Beautiful limited edition photographs of the culture & landscape of China and Thailand juxtaposed with the emotional gestures of local lifestyle and floral portraits.
Morning Labors by John Hill 
Moonrise by John Hill
In Search of Enlightnment by John Hill
Bounty of the Monsoon by John Hill
Private Heaven by John Hill
Lady in Waiting by John Hill
Dreaming by John Hill
Batting Order by John Hill
Amy Portnoy
NYC-based artist’ colorful & humorous illustrations, often featured in the NY Times Metropolitan Diary.
Beach by Amy Portnoy
Bags by Amy Portnoy
Address by Amy Portnoy
The Telethon by Amy Portnoy
NYSun Jazz by Amy Portnoy
Dim Sum by Amy Portnoy
GREENWICH ART SOCIETY
Credit-Suisse, the Swiss investment bank with offices here in Greenwich, will sponsor the Greenwich Art Society’s 91st Annual Members’ Exhibition at The Bendheim Gallery. The bank is offering a $1000 prize, the "Credit-Suisse Prize for Best in Show," and is sharing the cost of printing a full color catalogue of all the works in the show. (The catalogue will be available in the Gallery for $15.) Approximately $2000 in other prizes will also be awarded. The jurist, who had not yet been announced at press time, will choose the 60 works to be included in the exhibition and award all prizes. Society members may submit up to two works in all media. Other artists may join at the time of submission. Receiving dates are Thursday, March 6th, 6 – 8 pm and Friday, March 7th, 10 AM --12 Noon. The gala opening reception, which will include entertainment and catered refreshments, will take place on Friday, March 14th, 6 - 9 pm.
Amanda Yin, The Lighthouse, oil
Ann Flinn, Sonata, oil
Anna Patalano, Untitled, oil
Bill Grant, Top of the Avenue, Greenwich, acrylic
Bob Miranti, Untitled, ceramic sculpture
Eline de Jong, Shadows & Light Grand Central 1, oil
Shauna Holiman, 2 Magnolia Pods, mixed media
Jean Pierre Jacquet, Kessta!, oil
Jean Pierre Jacquet, Walking the Line, oil
Jeremy Butler, Look Like This, sculpture
Karen Heffner, Don't Assume You Are Still Playing the Same Game, sculpture
Larry Blizard, Theatre Lobby, pencil drawing
Nina Bentley, 101 Little Black Dresses, mixed media
Artists’ cooperative run by professional and emerging artists presenting works by local and regional artists.
Feelings of Nature-Haiku Series No. 68, oil on paper, 45" x 33" by Liana
Selective Space: An intimate look at the studio life of ROBERT MOTHERWELL
All works courtesy of The Dedalus FoundationPrints, unique works on paper, and materials from the artist’s archive
Dino Kotopoulis, sculptor
Summer at The Bendheim Gallery will get off to a lively start with works of three arts represented by the Flow of Art Gallery in Norwalk. Playful metal sculptures of Dino Kotopoulis will be juxtaposed to paintings by David Dunlop and his son Max Dunlop – some of these executed jointly.
Dino KotopoulisNew Yorker Kotopoulis is an award winning artist, animation director, designer, and character sketcher. His career has included working for prestigious companies such as Universal Studios, Disney, Leo Burnett, Foote Cone & Belding, and J. Walter Thompson. He won a Clio for his work on Charlie the Tuna commercials. He "retired" 1985 to pursue his own brand designs.
Grand Central #2, paint on copper, David DunlopDavid Dunlop is widely known for his landscape paintings, but he states, "I get inspired by almost anything you can see – from a sewer pipe with its effluents to a bouquet of flowers." A Fairfield County resident, he has had an extensive career as painter and teacher, winning many awards for his works in oil, watercolor, pastel, and monotype. He has been on the faculty of the Silvermine School of Art in New Canaan since 1993 and served on the Board of the Silvermine Guild Art Center from 1991 to 2004.
Subway #3, paint on copper, Max DunlopTwenty-one-year-old Max Dunlop has enjoyed using his father’s art supplies since childhood. Holder of a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Boston, he paints mainly on aluminum, steel, and copper – materials he took up after observing his father’s experiments with them. He is also an accomplished percussionist.
Times Square, paint on aluminum, David & Max DunlopAn unusual feature of this exhibition will be paintings produced jointly the Dunlops. They have adopted a procedure where they work concurrently, each starting 50 percent of their joint works. When either one of them is ready to switch, they trade paintings, at which point each is free to modify or completely transform the work he takes over. As they put it, they thus produce "completely collaborative works," while "respecting the creative autonomy of each artist."
Peacock, painted metal, Dino Kotopoulis
Dino Kotopoulis
Dino Kotopoulis
Dino Kotopoulis
Dino Kotopoulis
Dino Kotopoulis
The Greenwich
branch of the National League of American Pen Women will take over
the Arts Council’s Bendheim Gallery this fall to stage a lively exhibit
of work by members who are visual artists. Entitled PROGRESSIONS,
the show will display the artists’ current work in comparison with
examples or photographs of earlier pieces.
Sunspot, Jean
MacFarland
The show
will cover a wide range of art work, from painting to sculpture to
the photography of Lee Paine spectacularly transferred to stainless
steel. A special feature will be the work of Ellen Hackl Fagan on
the uncanny relationship of sound and color.
Hyperextended Sound,
Ellen Hackl Fagan
The Pen
Women exhibit will also provide the background for a new illustrated
lecture by award-winning photographer Libby Collins, who is a member
of the sponsoring organization. Her talk, entitled "The Elegant Earth:
Secrets of Artistic Nature Photography," will be given at noon on
September 19. Designed to benefit photographers of all levels, the
talk is illustrated by 120 of Ms. Collins’ prize-winning photographs
to provide clear examples of her recommended techniques. The digital
show is the successor to her slide lecture, "A Passion for Nature,"
which she has delivered to more than 50 enthusiastic audiences from
Maine to Michigan. Her non-technical, art-oriented approach promises
more beautiful and more consistent nature photographs.
B. O'Shea
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