FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2019
Media Contact: Gina Hyams, PR Consultant 413-464-2851, [email protected]
Spencertown Academy Arts Center Presents “Curator as Artist II” Exhibit
Spencertown, New York–Spencertown Academy Arts Center presents “The Curator as Artist II” exhibit featuring mixed media collages, paintings, ceramics, and photographs by Academy gallery curators Norma Cohen, Leslie Gabosh, Barbara Lax Kranz, Moira E. O’Grady, and Lynn Rothenberg. On Saturday, July 20, there will be an opening reception from 4:00p.m. to 6:00p.m. and the show will remain on display through August 11. Gallery hours are Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00p.m. to 5:00p.m. Admission is free and the artworks are for sale, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the Academy.
“To reward our diligent and dedicated volunteer Gallery Committee, every two years we host a show of their work. All of our curators are accomplished artists in their own right and not eligible to participate in the shows they curate,” says Madaline Sparks, vice president of the Academy Board. “This is our way of thanking them for the hard work of mounting multiple shows each year as well as a chance for the community to get to know them through their individual artistic endeavors.”
Norma Cohen has an unabashed love of color. “I tend to depict subjects in an environment that encapsulates, creating an intricate puzzle of shape, pattern, color, and texture,” she says. She often works with mixed media, incorporating watercolor, wax crayons, oil pastel, pencil, and unique collage material. Her themes include botanical still-lifes, famous and everyday people of Paris in the early 20th century, the early European immigrant experience in America, and antique Christian art. She has an M.A. in Art History and Criticism and has exhibited her work in solo and group shows in the United States and France.
Leslie Gabosh has been a working artist for over 50 years, painting as well as designing and fabricating silver and gold jewelry. As a painter, her inspiration has been 17th and 18th century Dutch and Flemish paintings, 18th century Spanish paintings, and 19th century American paintings. “My subjects are the incidentals of daily life. Although these are unremarkable objects, they create a pathway to thoughts and memories, as well as a window into the world of artists who inspire me. It is my wish to create a quiet meditative place for the viewer to find a calm refuge and a smile.”
Barbara Lax Kranz is an abstract painter. “My formal arts training was in dance, much of which was improvisational. This has had a significant influence on my painting,” she says. “Inspired by visual memories or visceral emotions from a place or time, my work is all about how the colors interact with each other and how one line or shape influences that which is adjacent or beneath. Colors are layered and massaged, one on top of the other, allowing shadows of the original markings to bleed through.” Her works are in many private collections internationally.
Moira E. O’Grady began her life with clay in 2004 with tiles, which she viewed as small three-dimensional canvases, where sculptural, woodcutting, and painterly techniques could be combined on a single surface. “Using leaf forms that fascinated me as tile motifs, my work evolved to hand-built bowls that incorporated extremely high-relief carved or sprigged forms on the interior surfaces,” she says. “New subjects I’m exploring now include undersea motifs and cloud formations.” O’Grady earned a BA in Fine Arts (painting) and English Literature at Manhattanville College and she did graduate studies in filmmaking at Montclair State University.
Lynn Rothenberg studied commercial photography at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and worked as a production assistant at an advertising agency. After moving to the Capital District from California, she owned and operated a photography portrait studio for ten years and exhibited fine art portraits locally as well as in juried shows. “During a portrait session, I take my time, develop rapport with my subject and strive to capture mood and personality with an honest, straightforward approach,” she says.
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.
#####