FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1, 2019
Media Contact: Gina Hyams, PR Consultant 413-464-2851, [email protected]
Spencertown Academy “Gardens of Delight” Exhibition
Spencertown, New York–Spencertown Academy Arts Center kicks off its 15th annual Hidden Gardens program with “Gardens of Delight.” This exhibit features artists Stephanie Anderson, Amy Bergeron, Marilyn Orner, Mary Ellen Riell, Laura Shore, Pamela Stoddart, and Marianne Van Lent. Spencertown Academy Gallery Committee member Norma Cohen curated the show and Moira O’Grady, also a member of the committee, assisted.
The opening reception is Saturday, May 18 from 4:00pm to 6:00pm, and art will remain on display through Sunday, June 16. Gallery hours are Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00pm to 5:00pm. Admission is free and all art is for sale with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the Academy. Please note that Saturday, June 15, the gallery will be open from 8:30am to 4:00pm for the Hidden Gardens Tour.
“‘Gardens of Delight’is a stunning and diverse exhibit. Spencertown Academy’s successful garden tour served as the inspiration,” says Cohen.“Visitors to the gallery will feel surrounded by magnificent gardens, yet still enjoy the uniqueness of each delicate painting of a flower or flying insect.”
A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Stephanie Anderson (Great Barrington, MA) is an award-winning children’s book illustrator. Her series of black-and-white graphite drawings was inspired by the strange magic of Dutch master Otto Marseus Van Schrieck’s paintings of the forest floor. Her drawings depict detailed, natural worlds in which real and unreal elements merge and disparate pieces of life combine in deliberately composed tableaux.
Oil painter Amy Bergeron (Scotia New York) says she is fascinated by light and form. Her style is a dance between impressionistic brushwork and realism. A graduate of Skidmore College, she is a member of the Schenectady Art Society and Albany Center Gallery.
Marilyn Orner Cromwell (South Egremont, MA) loves color, light, and transparency. She works mainly in oils and occasionally watercolors and pastels. She has a BFA in Painting from California College of the Arts, and an MEd. in Creative Arts in Teaching from Lesley University. She is a member of the National Association of Women Artists and is represented by 510 Warren Street Gallery, Hudson, NY.
Mary Ellen Riell (Schenectady, NY) is always looking for new ways to represent gardens, the sea, landscapes, and the human figure. She studied at the Art Students League in New York City, Fashion Institute of Technology, Brooklyn College, and the College of Saint Rose. She is a current member and former co-director of the Oakroom Artists. Her award-winning pastel landscapes, watercolors, and prints are in private and corporate collections.
Laura Shore (Altamont, NY) founded Farm Share Studio where she creates oil paintings that celebrate local food and upstate New York farmers. She has recently been inspired by the dramatic shapes and colors of tropical plants in the New York Botanical Garden. She especially loves the way the lush foliage surrounds flowers and creates a secret world of peace and contemplation.
Pamela Stoddart (Ridgefield, CT) is an abstract artist whose background in math and science inspires her work. She sees things analytically and portrays them creatively. Stoddart studied at Silvermine Arts Center and Ridgefield Guild of Artists, as well as Parsons School of Design and Laguna Beach College of Art. Working on both canvas and paper with bold colors and simple shapes, she finds flowers especially intriguing.
Marianne Van Lent (Athens, NY) creates dreamy, impressionistic paintings. She says that her work filters through memory and examines the mysterious forces of the physical world and investigates humankind’s fragile position in the universe. She constructs places, worlds, and cosmologies that are represented in the outer world of nature and the inner world of the psyche. She has degrees from the Tyler School of Art and Cornell University.
The theme for Hidden Gardens 2019 is “Artful Landscapes.” The Twilight in the Garden Cocktail Party marks the start of the summer season on Friday, June 14 at a private home in Spencertown. On Saturday, June 15, the Academy will present an array of events designed to inform, inspire, and intrigue garden enthusiasts, including a lecture by Jenny Elliot of Tiny Hearts Farm (“Bringing Cut Flowers into your Garden and Home”), Garden Market on the Green, and Hidden Gardens Tour, which offers garden lovers a peek into some of the region’s most spectacular properties.
Founded in 1972, Spencertown Academy Arts Center is a cultural center and community resource serving Columbia County, the Berkshires, and the Capital Region. Housed in a landmark 1847 Greek Revival schoolhouse, the Academy is located at 790 State Route 203 in Spencertown, New York. For more information, please visit our website at www.spencertownacademy.org or call 518-392-3693.
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