FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 7, 2025
Media Contact: Gina Hyams, PR Consultant (713) 930-7554 ginahyams@gmail.com
Spencertown Academy Arts Center Presents “Nurturing Nature” Exhibition
Six women artists explore their symbiotic relationships with the natural world May 31 through June 29
Spencertown, New York–Spencertown Academy Arts Center presents “Nurturing Nature,”an exhibition in which six women artists explore their symbiotic relationships with the natural world. Co-curated by Karen Andrews and Norma Cohen, the show features wearable art and mixed media sculptures by Deborah H. Carter, acrylic painting and monoprints by Maxine Davidowitz, archival photography by Shelley Lawrence Kirkwood, ceramics and digital prints by Anat Shiftan, oil painting by Jackie Skrzynski, and frozen botanical works and photography by Anna Thurber.
On Saturday, May 31 there will be an opening reception from 4:00p.m. to 6:00p.m. at the Academy, which will feature a live performance piece by Deborah H. Carter, and the exhibition will remain on display through June 29. 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 benefiting the Academy.
“The title ‘Nurturing Nature’ was chosen because it calls to mind a feminine spirit, divine mother, Mother Nature, and Gaia. This exhibit is meant to be a reflection on our evolving relationship with the plant world, and our need to change that relationship for our mutual survival,” says Karen Andrews. “It’s an exceptionally strong, personal, sensitive, intelligent, and stunning group show,” adds Norma Cohen. “The subject matter ranges from flora, orchards, and plant life to landscapes, seascapes, and more and the use of color, line, texture, and design is magnificent.”
Deborah H. Carter is a multi-media artist based in Pittsfield, MA, who creates upcycled one-of-a-kind wearable art. Her couture pieces are constructed from post-consumer waste, discarded items, and thrifted wares, as well as natural substances, such as bark, vines, and flowers. “I manipulate the color, shape, and texture of materials to compel us to question our assumptions of beauty and worth and ultimately reconsider our habits and attitudes about waste and consumption,” she says.
Painter and printmaker Maxine Davidowitz’s studio—a renovated 1880s barn—is in West Shokan, NY. “My art is an abstract response to the natural world, with a subtextual awareness of the growing climate emergency threatening our planet,” she says. “With a painterly approach to mark-making and a focus on textural details, such as branches, vines, and wild organic matter, I work intuitively and find the subject matter as I paint, scraping back and reapplying, using a variety of tools, to mine the possibilities of paint on the surface.” Her artwork has been shown throughout the Northeast United States and is in many private collections.
Based in Pelham, MA, Shelley Lawrence Kirkwood illustrates the possibility of a shamanic connection with the tiny (sometimes microscopic) plant forms and spores she photographs by magnifying them into statuesque forms. “Contemplative time spent in nature is central to my art practice. I have always embraced photography as a meditative practice, a tool to help me more meaningfully observe the connections between time, consciousness, memory, and home,” she says. Kirkwood earned a BA from Hampshire College and an MFA from the University of Arizona. Her work has been exhibited internationally and featured in numerous publications.
“Working with my hands forming clay into natural forms is an expression of my humanity, “says High Falls, NY-based ceramicist Anat Shiftan. “I explore nature’s ambivalent representations in art: the texture of sexuality, life, death, power, and subversion.” She holds a BA in English Literature and Philosophy from Hebrew University, an MA in Ceramics from Eastern Michigan University, and an MFA in Ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art and Design. She is a longtime faculty member at SUNY New Paltz, where she is currently head of the Ceramics Program. Shiftan is represented by Hostler Burrows NY/LA.
“I make oil paintings that are grounded in a romantic sensibility. I have always been attracted to the beautiful and unsettling, and I notice these qualities often occur together. In common vegetation, I find inspiration and a sense of connection with a larger natural system,” says Jackie Skrzynski of Newburgh, NY. “Observing the drama of growth, decay, and rebirth, I confront my own mortality and the ephemeral quality of life.” She studied art at UNC-Chapel Hill, including a pivotal year in Spain, and earned her MFA from the University at Albany. Her artwork has been exhibited at universities and galleries across the country and abroad.
Anna Thurber lives and works in her studio near Boston. For the last decade, she has been creating and photographing natural botanical scenes in her ice sculptures. Her photographs of frozen flowers reveal a depth of beauty that perhaps only bees and other insects can perceive. She says her prints “live between sculpture, performance, and photography,” endeavoring to take the viewer into the heart of a plant’s spirit by enlarging and accentuating its magnificent radiance and infinite complexity. Inspired by the forests and gardens, her compositions are captured raw or accented with a multitude of brilliant colors and light.
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 see www.spencertownacademy.org.