On Display: March 25 – May 7
Reception: Saturday, April 11 from 1.30 – 3.30 p.m.
Amanda Barrow POD, 1992 hand-woven cotton 46″ x 40″
Three artists whose work focuses on abstraction and the cycle of life will have a group show in the Grubbs Gallery through the month of April. Amanda Barrow, Sharon Ligorner, and Laurie Goddard use handwoven tapestries, wax based paint, and works on paper to explore themes of impermanence, regeneration, and growth. Their group show “Parallels” will explore these themes in their art.
In her artist’s statement, Ms. Barrow noted that she looks for ways to portray in her art what she describes as the “indigenous spiritual ambiance of the East” and that she draws inspiration from her travels, from forms in architecture, and from the human body.
Sharon Ligorner Lucky Charms
“The work shown here represents tapestries that were handwoven during my Fulbright research grant in India in 1992,” she wrote. “The images present a broad range of abstractions that draw from nature, architecture, and the human body as primary sources of inspiration.”
On Display: March 3-6
Reception: Thursday, March 5 from 5-6:30 p.m.
Work by Arts Intensive students will be featured in displays in the Grubbs Gallery as part of the spring Arts Walk. All installations are created and curated by students. This and all other Arts Walk events are open to the wider community.
On Display: February 3-27
Reception: Saturday, Feb. 21, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
“Mwyar Duon” (Blackberries) Acrylic on Canvas. Rhys Davies
Two friends and fellow artists—who use their art to examine the figurative and ephemeral—are collaborating on an exhibit that will be on display in the Grubbs Gallery through the month of February.
Freelance book illustrator and designer Rhys Davies uses drawings and collages, dotted with over-sized figures, to create works with both literal and figurative meanings. In his artist’s statement, he noted that he has been inspired by landscapes and the history of his native Wales. “Having lived for years in the countryside, I feel I can draw upon a ‘deep well’ of subject matter and imagery,” he wrote.
Mr. Davies, who lives in Amherst, has a degree in fine art with a specialty in painting, and studied at both the Cardiff College of Art, and Wimbledon School of Art in London, from which he received a BA with honors. He has exhibited at schools such as Wimbledon SFA, Ruskin College, and Middlesex University Gallery, as well as several galleries in Denmark. He has also shown at locally at Wunderarts, Pineapple Dance Studio, and Hope and Feathers, all in Amherst.
The Caged Bird, mixed media drawing. Jimmy Ilson
Jimmy Ilson’s most recent drawings, assemblages, and sculptures are visual paradoxes that often reflect the nature of Taoist philosophy. Last year, he headed a project in Easthampton High School called “How do You Say Goodbye?” where students in his advanced fine arts class scrawled phrases all over their school building, which was slated to be demolished.
“What you’re doing here is this kind of momentary thing. It’s ephemeral,” Mr. Ilson was quoted as saying in a Daily Hampshire Gazette article about the project. “It’s like fireworks — it’s there and then it’s gone.”
Mr. Ilsongraduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison with an BFA in painting and earned an MFA in Printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute. Having grown up in New York City, he notes that early visits to Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” in the Museum of Modern Art were some of the most formative aspects of his artistic life. He presently teaches art at Cathedral High School and also teaches T’ai chi throughout the Pioneer Valley.
On Display: January 7 – 30
Reception: Saturday, Jan. 10, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Karen Iglehart is inspired by the relationships of form and color, the sense of space and scale, and most of all how all of those elements relate to landscapes. Having lived in Southwest, the South, Nova Scotia, and New England, she notes that she’s retained an artistic memory of those places.
“I want the viewer to find his/her own space in my paintings; to experience a sense of personal place not defined or explained for them,” she writes in a personal statement about her work.
Ms. Iglehart’s work has been shown in professional galleries in Boston, New Orleans, Taos, Denver, San Francisco and has been included in juried and invitational shows.
On Display: November 1 – December 18
Reception: Saturday, November 15, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
The work of David Marshall will be on display in the Grubbs Gallery from November 1 until December 18, when Williston Northampton School closes for winter break.
Mr. Marshall, a Northampton-based artist, describes the act of painting as “rewarding because of its moments of heightened awareness and its quiet contemplation of nature’s beauty.” His paintings—of landscapes, figures, and still lifes—aim to capture fleeting light in the moment, how objects melt into each other, and how they separate from their surroundings.
“If one paints the parts, they rarely add up to produce a unified whole,” he wrote in a statement about his work. “Subtle changes in light—even in a studio with natural light—dramatically affect the overall tonality of a subject. “
For the Grubbs Gallery show, Mr. Marshall collected some of his most recent and favorite work with paintings that explore two themes: nude figures in landscapes, including smaller studies, and the ever-changing nature of water.
“Painting moving water is something I’ve tried on and off over the years but never with much dedication,” Mr. Marshall noted. “I decided to work on my ability to paint water (specifically some of the smaller rivers in Chesterfield) as the snow began to melt last spring…I did have a few paintings in the area of the Chesterfield Gorge where I might have captured an effect.”
Mr. Marshall has studied panting at the Massachusetts College of Art, Art Students League, and Brooklyn College, where he earned an M.F.A. under the tutelage of Lennart Anderson. He’s had both solo and group shows in galleries in New York City, Philadelphia, and throughout New England. Mr. Marshall also helped create The Oxbow Gallery in Northampton, a venue for both local and nationally renowned painters.
On Display: October 5-November 1
Reception: Saturday, October 18, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
As an aerobatic pilot, Lise Lemeland draws upon what she sees to convey the experience of flight. In her artist’s statement, she notes that she’s long been interested in visually complex patterns, and the visual cues that are a crucial part of flying aerobatics.
“This extreme type of flying requires intense focus and sensatory interpretation,” she wrote in her statement. “When I am in the studio, I am devoted to finding ways to translate these breathtaking and disorienting experiences of flying.”
Ms. Lemeland received her BA from Stanford University, her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and her MFA from Hunter College. In 2006, she received a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, followed by a grant in 2009 to flight as part of her artistic research, as well as a scholarship for aerobatic training from the International Aerobatic Club.
Her paintings have been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, in Washington, DC, where they are also part of the permanent collection, and Gallery 22E41 in NYC.
An abstract painter who experienced a devastating studio fire over the summer is dedicating her fall show at the Williston Northampton School to those who have helped her rebuild.
“Circle Dance,” works by Marlene Rye, will be on display from September 1-29 in the Grubbs Gallery, Reed Campus Center. A reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, September 20, from 1:30-3:30 p.m. in Grubbs.
On August 4, a fire broke out in the Paragon Arts and Industry Building on 150 Pleasant Street in Easthampton where Ms. Rye has her studio. Although quickly extinguished, the fire and the resulting water caused damage throughout the building—including the studio where Ms. Rye kept her pastel drawings.
“I waited for four hours to go into my studio to find them, in a wet box, but most of them were fine,” she wrote in an email. “It was such a huge relief, as they have been my main focus for the past year!”
As a result of the fire, paints, mats, frames, and a camera were all destroyed, leaving Ms. Rye to worry about whether she could move forward with planned fall shows and art camps. A GoFundMe campaign quickly raised the funds she needed, while friends and supporters helped her clean out her studio and move her work into storage.
David Marshall, Invader, 11 x 8, oil on muslin panel, 2011
A slate of painters and artists who draw inspiration from the land and the air, from architectural forms and memories of childhood, will fill the Grubbs Gallery for the 2014-15 season.
The nine shows this season will include work by Marlene Rye, Lise Lemeland, David Marshall, Karen Iglehart, Rhys Davies, and Amanda Barrow and Co.
“It is going to be a year of very impressive exhibitions because they are all so talented with such distinctive styles,” noted Natania Hume, Grubbs Gallery director and curator, in an email about the upcoming season.
“Each year I curate artists whose work complements each other’s and exhibits that provide continuity for our students and our community,” wrote Ms. Hume, who also teaches ceramics, design, and drawing at the school.
As part of the selection process for Grubbs, Ms. Hume said she looked for artists who not only had exemplary work, but who could teach Williston students about techniques, materials, and the creative process. All six artists give gallery talks to students in the Advanced Studio Art course, a new offering at Williston, or students in the arts intensive after-school program.
Talks in the fall by Marlene Rye and Lise Lemeland, for example, would cover how each artist conveyed a sense of dynamic movement, Ms. Hume noted. Ms. Rye’s vibrant landscapes relate to dancers, while Ms. Lemeland’s draws upon her experiences as a pilot.
“Although the Grubbs Gallery artists are mostly painters this year, they all get inspiration from very specific subjects and will all give very interesting gallery talks to our advanced students, who ask a many questions and are avid to learn about each artist’s life and experiences,” wrote Ms. Hume.
Grubbs Gallery Shows 2014-15
September 1 – 29: Marlene Rye, “Circle Dance.”
Reception: Saturday, Sept. 20 from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
October 1-30: Lise Lemeland
Reception: Saturday, Oct. 4 from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
November 1 – Dec. 18: David Marshall
Reception: Saturday, November 15 from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
January 7 – 30: Karen Iglehart
Reception: Saturday, Jan. 10 from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
February 3-27: Rhys Davies
Reception Saturday, Feb. 21 from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
March 3-6: Williston Arts Intensive show / Williston Artwalk.
Reception: Thursday, March 5 from 5-6:30 p.m.
After exhibiting her work in galleries across the country for two decades, nationally recognized artist Robbie Heidinger will bring her latest pieces to Williston’s Grubbs Gallery beginning April 2.
Ms. Heidinger hand-forms clay into practical yet beautiful designs that evoke elements of the natural world.”Watch a plant grow, and you see its intention is perfect,” Ms. Heidinger writes in her artist’s statement. “It uses just the right shape, amount of color, and texture to fulfill its pliant, living design. I try to emulate this ‘biosophy’ in clay—without doing realistic imitations of plants.”
Gently curving lines, hues inspired by earth and sky, and an aesthetic rooted in the outdoors are all hallmarks of Ms. Heidinger’s ceramics. Each of the pieces—the bowls, plates, cups and baskets she creates—beg to be touched.
“It satisfies the urge to feel something attractively ‘natural,’ and more seductively, rewards the user by connecting them with a very potent and tightly focused abstraction of the tissues and structures of organic life,” Ms. Heidinger, of Westhampton, writes. “This—the psychosomatic connection occurring during the act of using the piece—unleashes the potencies of my expression.”
“New Work by Robbie Heidinger” will run from April 2 through May 11 at the Grubbs Gallery, with an opening Sunday, April 13 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. For more about the artist, visit robbieheidinger.com
Vivika DeNegre’s piece with inspiration photo by Rosemary DeLucco Alpert. Photo and caption dianewrightquilts.blogspot.com
A group exhibit featuring the work of a dozen fiber artists from Southern Connecticut is now on display at the Williston Northampton School’s Grubbs Gallery.
“Double Take: Photo & Fiber,” which includes both fiber artwork and the nature photographs that inspired them, opened March 6. A reception for the artists will be held in the gallery on March 23 from 2-4 p.m.
The collective work was created by Sisters in Cloth, a group who drew their name from a Progressive quilt with a batik motif that they created together. Sisters in Cloth started in Guilford in 2000 and the group’s collective work has appeared in such venues as Haskins Labs at Yale University, Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Garde Theater in New London, and Connecticut Hospice in Branford.
