Artists Newsletter September 19, 2017

Subject: Artists Newsletter September 19, 2017 - Part One

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ARTISTS' NEWSLETTER

News and Opportunities for Artists of Fairfield County, CT

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

PART ONE

The Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County is a nonprofit service organization that supports its members through unified marketing, capacity building, professional development, and advocacy services. This newsletter is sent to all who request it - but we ask that, if you are not a member, you explore membership benefits and consider joining this community of more than 500 individuals and organizations. You can sign up here.

OUR NEWS

PLEASE HELP WEBSITE CHALLENGE GRANT

We have been awarded a $5,000 challenge donation from our board members, and we need to match the $5,000 by Fri. Sept 29. Can you help us? Any amount is welcome and will contribute towards our beautiful new integrated Cultural Alliance - FCBuzz.org website. We're almost half-way to our overall goal of $33,000 for the entire project and it's one that will serve you better! Faster, richer, more responsive and up-to-date, the designs for the new website, being built by BCS Interactive are getting us very excited about our future - so please help us get their faster - so we can help you even better! You can donate here! Click for larger image. You can make your donation to our new website here! Thank you very much.

CITY LIGHTS ARTISTS TALK VIDEOS AVAILABLE

Videos are now posted from our successful ARTISTS TALK at City Lights Gallery, Sept 7, that celebrated both the Unveiling of Liz Squillace's Painted Stairway, next to the Gallery, and the opening of PATTERN, exploring the principle of pattern-making at work in large and small works, from fiber art to painting, to weaving. See our Artists Talk page here, or connect directly to the videos of Adger Cowans, Gwen Hendrix, Norma Schlager, Tim Reimer and Liz Squillace. See Suzanne Kachmar and Jane Davila's Curator's Talk here. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here.

JOIN US FOR CITIZEN JANE FILM FEST - OCT 12 & 15

The Cultural Alliance has joined with Bridgeport Downtown Special Services District, and Connecticut Main Street Center to present a Citizen Jane Film Festival. This will be a 2-day film festival on the arts, urban regeneration and community preservation on Thurs Oct. 12 and Sun. Oct. 15 at Bridgeport's Bijou Theatre. Thursday ($30) will have mostly professionals in mind in presenting Citizen Jane - the new documentary on Jane Jacobs, her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities and her fight with Robert Moses - followed by a discussion between David Kooris and David Flint, author of Wrestling With Moses, a reception and guided walking tours. Sunday ($12) will be aimed at citizens in general and will show the classic Survival of a Small City, about urban redevelopment in Norwalk, a program of short films, and a reprise showing of Citizen Jane. Details & tickets: https://bridgeportcitizenjane.eventbrite.com

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

JULIE LEFF

Julie Leff is a Weston-based painter who has lived in New York, Los Angeles and London, before settling in Weston in 1982 to raise her three daughters. Leff has studied drawing at Yale University, and at the Silvermine Guild. She studied painting with noted Connecticut painter, and former director of the Silvermine School of Art, Charles Ray, and ultimately developed her own techniques to suit her subject matter. She started painting professionally in 2001, winning her first art show, sponsored by the Weston Commission for the Arts, in 2003. Intense color lies at the root of Julie's work. Her earlier paintings were abstracts, often gridded, which allowed her to explore her love of color in a methodical fashion. She explains that, for her, each painting is the solution to a challenge of composing light, color, and negative and positive spaces, in order to create an intriguing and satisfying unity. She loves painting with oils, she says, because of their "vibrancy and the beautiful ways in which they can be blended." Julie starts each painting with an idea–a structure or a shape. Then she chooses colors that create a pleasing and dynamic relationship to each other. The form evolves until it is fully realized. More recently, although continuing abstract work, and also painting portraits, she has specialized in floral compositions, in which again the color dominates. "Color excites me. I love to create an interplay among colors and forms that is dynamic and balanced, challenging and pleasing to the eye. I specialize in floral and abstract oils because they allow me to explore my love of color.” But whether she paints abstracts, portraits, or florals, she places her work at the end of an ongoing tradition of painting that extends back thousands of years: "So I am a traditionalist. But, at the same time, my work is time-bound and personal, faithful to the authenticity of my own perceptions- which is to say, I paint for myself, for my love of color and form, but in a way that invites others to experience the world as I see it." Julie’s work has appeared in numerous solo and group shows in New York and Connecticut. Her artwork is held in many private collections in the US, Europe, and Asia. She is a member of the Westport Artists Collective. See her website here.

ALYSE ROSNER

Alyse Rosner is a Westport-based contemporary abstract artist working with painting, drawing and frottage. She has a very hands-on relationship with her materials and environment: always starting with yupo, wood or canvas, she layers it with “biomorphic abstractions composed of accumulated mark making and large areas of transparent and painterly color. I incorporate my surroundings, personal experience and environmental concerns into the work… combining organic forms, stringy and obsessive lines, pipes, bony protrusions, then viscous pours, slip trailing of paint and direct graphite rubbings of wood grain.” Alyse says that she grew up immersed in the creative sphere of her mother. Although she was not an exhibiting artist, her mother was alert to and inspired by other artists and in a constant state of creativity. The result is that while Alyse's paintings never resembled her mother’s she makes work that is similarly "intuitive and materials-driven. I learned to seek and recognize the qualities of various materials, question them, experiment, find the unexpected and the obvious–and to value fluency among various media and modes of expression." With a BFA from the University of Michigan and an MFA from American University, Alyse has exhibited her work for the past two decades. She received the Radius Emerging Artist Award in 2004 from The Aldrich Museum, two Artists Fellowships from CT Commission on Culture and Tourism/CT Office of the Arts (2008 and 2015) and a 2016 grant from The Sustainable Arts Foundation. She has shown at The Aldrich Museum, Rick Wester Fine Art (New York), Artspace New Haven, Kathryn Markel Fine Art (New York), Amy Simon Fine Art, among many others. In 2016 she appeared in Surface Work (Real Art Ways, read review) and this year is currently a Flatfile artist at Odetta Gallery (Bushwick, NY), is in the three-person show Venus Fly (Dec. 2017-Jan. 2018), curated by Tracy McKenna at the Flinn Gallery, Greenwich and Unfamiliar Again, a show of contemporary women abstractionists at the Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University, New Orleans. Alyse has taught widely, at all levels ("advanced college students and adults, engaged teens and curious grade school students"), and is currently teaching Focus on Abstraction at Silvermine Arts Center. See Alyse's website, Twitter feed, and Instagram account. With thanks to Christina Massey's blog entry on Alyse Rosner.

AISHA NAILAH

Aisha Nailah is a vibrant Bridgeport-based visual artist, working in mixed media and photography. She combines a love of color, dimension and texture in her pieces, concerning herself with the feeling, vibrancy and balance of the composition, while often including images that seem, as she puts it, to “say something”. An African-Caribbean-American, much of Aisha’s work is about being a black woman in this culture: "my art is very informed by, and concerned with, my culture, as well as my position as a woman in the world. I am a woman, a mother, an artist, and educator, based in Bridgeport." In addition to her African-Caribbean background, she brings in elements of other cultures - Latin and Asian - to begin a conversation. She starts her compositions with the figure and then, she says, listens to what the figures tell her: "What colors do I feel about it." Rather than an overall plan, the piece develops according to the mood created by the piece. Growing up in a house where her father was a jazz musician, music is an important element of her painting process. Her materials are many and varied - including house paint, ink, nail varnish - whatever comes to hand. She calls her style "urban abstract: a little bit cultural, a lot colorful and very organic. My art is about beauty and that’s where it starts for me". Aisha was co-curator of Beautiful Crime, a graffiti and pop-art exhibit at Read’s Artspace and she has worked as part of the planning team for the Bridgeport Arts fest. She has also exhibited with the John Slade Ely House (New Haven), 22 Haviland Street Gallery (Norwalk), The Peace Project tour, City Lights Gallery (Bridgeport), Gallery 999, Gallery 305K (now the Armstrong Gallery at 305 Knowlton. See Aisha's RAW Artists profile and her ARTISTS TALK video, from 22 Haviland Street's Interval exhibition.

TIM REIMER

Tim Reimer has been drawing and sketching for several years, but has only recently been painting in an exploration of bright colors. In his recent ARTISTS TALK at City Lights Gallery, Bridgeport, he said that he began experimenting with spray paint on cardboard and paper. This eventually led to finely graduated work using bands of color on canvas, through which he would create depth and motion with a range of effects. Using spay paint he has developed an elaborate system of spraying, drying, masking and spraying again, applying many layers until he has the right effect. The gradients of color are very finely tuned - leaving audiences gasping from the effects. He discovered that initially the weather was adversely affecting his work (too hot, too humid, too cold) and now has developed seasonal work: one kind of work for summer, another style for winter, and a totally different style for when it rains. He says he works in large groups: "Usually I work in whole sequences. I'll take five or six to explore one goal and I'll usually do them two at a time as I'm limited space on my drying racks. So I'll jam through five or six base coats then move to a level two series and then a level three series and then cycle through the different projects that I'm working on concurrently." His popular Rain Series happened accidentally; trying to rescue paintings from the rain, he discovered he liked the effect made by the impressions that the raindrops made on the surface of the paint - so he now has an intentional raindrop series, which he has to carefully monitor. Apart from the City Lights Gallery's PATTERN exhibition, Tim has shown at Artspace New Haven's Armory show in since 2015. An Associate Member of The NEST Arts Factory, he had a pop up space there during the 2016 Bridgeport Arts Trail and had work in its annual 10x10 show. See Tim's website, Artists Talk video and Instagram page.

CURRENT MEMBERS

Elizabeth Agresta, Painter
Valerie Ahneman, Musician
Peter Alexander, Landscape

Architect
Leslee Asch. Curator, Writer
Frances Ashforth, Painter/

Printmaker
Judith Bacal, Designer
Anna Badini, Painter
Mary Bailey, Sculptor and Writer
Louise Baranger, Musician
Patrice Barrett, Painter
Nina Bentley, Mixed Media/

Sculptor
Sue Benton, Photographer
Paul Berger, Photographer
Karla Bernstein, Photographer
Thomas Berntsen, Photographer/

Sculptor
Binnie Birstein, Painter/Printmaker
Elise Black, Painter
Ziggy Bober, Sculptor
Amy Bock, Painter
Dennis Bradbury, Photographer
Carolyn Brady, Photographer
Nancy Breakstone, Photographer
Michael Brennecke, Painter
Wendy Brest, Mixed Media
Lucienne Buckner, Sculptor
Bevi Bullwinkel, Painter
Miggs Burroughs, Graphic Artist
Trace Burroughs, New Media
Joy Bush, Photographer
Bob Callahan, Painter
Donna Callighan, Photographer
Patricia Campbell, Dancer
Linn Cassetta, Printmaker
Carolyn Cavolo, Dancer
Ann Chernow, Painter/Printmaker
Eric Chiang, Painter
Frederic Chiu, Pianist
Alicia Cobb, Painter
Joyce Colburn, Painter
Heidi Lewis Coleman, Mixed Media
Catherine Conroy, Photographer
Margaret Stapor Costa, Filmmaker
Adger Cowans, Photographer/

Painter
Naomi Cruz, Painter
Lisa Cuscuna, Painter

Dawn Dahl, Painter
Cris Dam, Painter/Muralist
Holly Danger, Video Artist
Betsy Davidson, Painter
Carlos Davila, Painter, Sculptor
Jane Davila, Fiber Artist/Mixed

Media
Cortney Davis, Writer
John Deakins, Sculptor
Ken Delmar, Painter
Loren DePalma, Painter
Joseph Dermody, Painter/Sculptor/
Furniture Maker/Violinist
Emily Derr, Illustrator/Designer
Joyce DiCamillo, Musician
Barbara Kunin Dierolf, Painter
Jan Dilenschneider, Painter
Eugenie Diserio, Painter
Carol Nipomnich Dixon, Mixed Media
Erin Dolan, Painter
Amy Dolego, Photographer
Jennifer Drolet, Painter
David Dunlop, Painter
Kate Eisemann, Photographer
Philip Eliasoph, Writer
Jeanine Esposito, Mixed Media
Katherine Evans, Painter
Susan Fehlinger, Painter
Mary Ferguson, Photographer
Louise Flax, Mixed Media
Rosaida Flores, Dancer
David Laurence Flynn, Lighting Designer
Heide Follin, Painter
Christa Forrest, Painter
Rose-Marie Fox, Painter

Cecilia Moy Fradet, Painter/

Printmaker

Herm Freeman, Painter
Joseph Fucigna, Sculptor

Megan Garbe, Painter

Sandy Garnett, Visual Artist/

Writer

Rhonda Gentry, Painter

Racey Gilbert, Musician
Joe Gitterman, Sculptor
Leslie Giuliani, Mixed Media
Scott Glaser, Painter
William Glaser, Photographer
Lori Glavin, Visual Artist
Danielle Goldstein, Photographer
Ellen Gordon, Painter
Sue Brown Gordon, Painter, Jeweler
Ellen Gould, Photographer
Nicole Grant-Paul, Painter
Kristen Graves, Musician
Len Grayeck, Painter
Jen Greely, MultiMedia/Installation
Mindy Green, Mixed Media
Carolina Guimarey, Mixed Media
Barry Guthertz, Photographer
Dorothy Hafner, Sculptor
Don Hamerman, Photographer
Mary Harold, Photographer
Julie Headland, Painter/Printmaker
Adair Heitmann, Printmaker
MaryEllen Hendricks, Photographer
Gwen Hendrix, Fiber & Mixed Media
Tracy Hoffman, Photographer &

Printmaker ASSOCIATE
Bruce Horan, Painter/Printmaker
Elizabeth Howard, Writer
Siovhan Hutcherson, Mosaic Artist
Yuko Ike, Painter
Jana Ireijo, Painter
Sholeh Janati, Painter
Martin Johnston, Sculptor
Renée Kahn, Painter/Sculptor
Vasken Kalayjian, Painter
Karen Kalkstein, Graphic Artist
Amy Kaplan, Painter
Natasha Karpinskaia, Painter
Ed Katz, Theatre Critic
Elisa Keogh, Photographer
Emily Kelting, Photographer
Karen Kent, Painter
Niki Ketchman, Sculptor/Multimedia
Lesley Koenig, Painter
Richard Koleszar, Painter
Xiao Mai Kong, Painter
Michael Kozlowski, Painter
Marcella Kurowski, Painter
Dana Laird, Painter, Photographer
Joanie Landau, Jewelry designer &

Printmaker
Daniel Lanzilotta, Sculptor
Paul Larson, Painter
Emily Hamilton Laux, Photographer
Phyllis Lee, Visual Artist
Julie Leff, Painter

Valerie Ann Leff, Writer

Susan Leggitt, Painter
Barbara Loss, Photographer
Jane Lubin, Mixed Media
Katya Lebrija, Painter/Mixed Media
Jessica Makin, Painter/Photographer

Mary Manning, Painter/Printmaker

Elizabeth Marks, Painter
Ruben Marroquin, Fiber Artist
Nadia Martinez, MultiMedia
Peter Massini, Photographer
Sooo-z Mastropietro, Multimedia
Barbara Mathis, Painter
Megan Bonneau McCool,

Choreographer
Carole McClintock, Painter
Grace S. McEnaney, Painter
Tessa Smith McGovern, Writer
Nancy McTague-Stock, Mixed Media
Shanna Melton, Poet
Kristin Merrill, Jeweler/Sculptor
Toby Michaels, Painter
Jay Misencik, Photographer
Allyson Monson, Photographer
Duvian Montoya, Painter
Brechin Morgan, Painter
Day Moore, Painter
Nancy Moore, Painter
Carol Mueller, Painter & Printmaker

vvvv

Cynthia Mullins, Painter
Susan Murray, Painter
Aisha Nailah, Mixed Media/

Photographer

Tava Naiyin, Dancer
Dale Najarian, Painter
Karen Neems, Photographer
Susan Newbold, Painter
Mary Newcomb, Painter
Jill Nichols, Painter
Eddie Niño, Painter
Judy Noel, Painter
Julie O’Connor, Photographer
Kazumasa Oda, Painter
Amy Oestreicher, Performing/Visual

Artist
Donna Osterby-Brien, Mixed Media
Rose Palmiero, Painter
Parkway South, Musicians
Judy Peknik, Painter
Louisa Percudani, Producer, Writer
Justin Perlman, Sculptor
Chris Perry, Book Artist
Marjorie Poe, Painter
Diane Pollack, Mixed Media
Lynn Carlson Popat, Painter
Joseph Provey, Painter
Jennifer Prat, Photographer
Ben Quesnel, Sculptor,

Videographer
Cynthia Quintanal, Sound Healer
Lauren Rago, Mixed Media
Tim Reimer, Painter

Gwen North Reiss, Poet
Rick Reyes, Singer/Songwriter
Barbara Ringer, Photographer
Mariya Rivera, Painter
Christian Roesch, Painter
Alyse Rosner, Painter/Mixed Media

Richard Sadlon, Musicians
Renee Santhouse, Graphic Artist
Jill Sarver, Painter
Roxanne Faber Savage, Visual

Artist
Ellen Schiffman, Fiber Artist
Marianne R. Schmidt, Painter
Lisa Seidenberg, Filmmaker
Rick Shaefer, Visual Artist
Norma Schlager, Fiber Artist
Alissa Siegal, Painter
Norm Siegel, Painter
Lisa P. Silberman, Photographer
Nomi Silverman, Graphic Artist
Phyllis Sinrich, Photographer
Bronislava Slagle, Mixed Media

Painter
Megan Smith-Harris, Writer/

Filmmaker
leo Sonneborn, Painter
Rene Soto, Painter
Liz Squillace, Painter/Printmaker
Connie Stancell, Painter
Sergei Stepanenko, Painter
Kevin Stevens, Mixed Media
Barbara Stewart, Painter
Florence Suerig, Visual Artist
Susan Tabachnick, Sculptor
Juliette Tehrani, Painter
Mick Theebs, Writer/Painter
Alicia Thompson, Actress/Playwright
Dara Tomeo, Painter
Kris D. Toohey, Painter
Andrea Towey, Musician
Ruth Kalla Ungerer, Printmaker
Amy Vensel, Painter
Vincent Verrillo, Painter
Karen Vogel, Painter
Lee Walther, Mixed Media
Peggy Weis, MultiMedia
Cynthia Whalen, Painter
Joan Wheeler, Painter
Vonne Whittleton, Mixed Media
Jahmane West, MultiMedia
Elizabeth White, MultiMedia
Justin Wiest, Painter
Jarvis Wilcox, Painter
Bruce Williams, Painter
Tammy Winser, Mixed Media
Nancy Woodward, Photographer

and Mixed Media
Dmitri Wright, Painter
Jeffrey Wyant, Visual Artist
Janet Zamparo, Visual/Literary/

Performing Artist

❦ – See a List by Town of Artist Members: here

❦ – See a List by Town of all Organization and Creative Business Members: here

YOUR NEWS

ROUND-UP OF MEMBERS' NEWS

GROUP SHOWS & OTHER NEWS

Sue Benton, Michael Brennecke, Bevi Bullwinkel, Miggs Burroughs,Dawn Dahl, Megan Garbe, Mary Harold,Amy Kaplan, Emily Hamilton Laux, Susan Leggitt,Heidi Lewis Colman, Jane Lubin, Nancy Moore, Cindi Mullins, Lynn Carlson Popat, Florence Suerig, Ruth Kalla Ungerer, Nancy Woodward all have work selected by Lisa Hayes Williams, of The New Britain Museum of American Art, into the The Ridgefield Guild of Artists 40th Annual Juried Exhibition, opening reception: Sat. Sept. 24, 4-6pm.

Lori Glavin won third place and Carol Dixon won Honorable Mention for their entries into the 37th Annual Faber Birren National Color Award Show, organized by the Stamford Arts Association. Other members in the show include Heide Follin, Heidi Lewis Coleman, and Susan Taylor Murray. The opening reception will take place on Sun. Sept. 24, 4-6 pm, when $2500 in cash awards will be presented The exhibit honors Faber Birren, world renowned color theorist and former Stamford resident. The juror was Devon Zimmerman.

Eric Chiang, Heidi Lewis Coleman, Julia-Rose Liptak and Al Coyote Weiner all have work in Memories of Our Town, opening at the City of Norwalk Parking Authority’s Maritime Garage Gallery, opening Tues. Sept. 26, 5-7pm. The show, curated by Nadia Martinez, features a variety of mediums that represents the unique memories of the place we call home: places, people, sounds, smells, events, etc. that are personally significant to the artist.

Heide Follin and Susan Leggitt were two of the five artists showing at the Carriage Barn Arts Center's 40th Annual Members Show, who were selected by Sorelle Gallery for an exhibition at the Gallery next summer. This is the first year of this partnership between the Carriage Barn and Sorelle gallery. Congratulations!

INDIVIDUAL NEWS

Bevi Bullwinkel had a work from her Transience series selected for the The Ridgefield Guild of Artists 40th Annual Juried Exhibition: Transience 11 (2017, cold wax and oil pigment stick on board, 20x16", detail at right) Bevi has written that, "when working in any media, I try to distill my thoughts in order to express the essence of what lies beneath the surface. The emphasis on the simplicity of line and importance of space is seen in most of my work. My wish is to express an increasing concern with the fragility and impermanence of nature and our existence as well as to evoke a sense of the transience of being and mystery of the unknown."

Miggs Burroughs' entry in the The Ridgefield Guild of Artists 40th Annual Juried Exhibition, is Something Fishy, a lenticular image of fellow artist Tammy Winser’s feet wearing fish slippers on aqua bathroom tiles, in one image, changing as you move to an image of her bare feet in the snow, surrounded by fish sticks. "How did this get into the show?" comments Miggs, "Not sure, but something's fishy."

Ann Chernow's Sweethearts (2000, etching/aquatint, 7 x10”, editioned to 50 through SAGA) is included in a show benefitting the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, 323 West 39th St., New York. Preview: Wed. Sept. 27, 10am-10pm, Sat. Sept. 30, 11am-5pm, and Sun. Oct. 1, 12-4pm. For further information, contact kirstenflaherty1@gmail.com

Eric Chiang has a solo show, Return to Eden/Eden on Earth at the Gallery at GFC (Greens Farms Church) of his new series of work, through Oct. 21. Return to Eden is a series about human beings' innate (broken) dreams of returning to Eden, while Eden on Earth is based on Eric's Ode to Joy series, which depicts human beings responding to tempestuous nature with grace, beauty and ode to joy, signified by the ballerinas. Congratulations to Eric also for winning the inaugural Betty Barker Award for Best in Show at the Carriage Barn's 40th Annual Members Show for his work Water Lyrics (2015, oil on canvas, 30x24" detail at right, click for larger image)

On Sept. 11, Alicia Cobb participated in the Do West Shark Tank challenge by Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust along with Jahmane West, Aisha Nailah, Yolanda Petrocelli & Chris. Alicia was awarded a shark fin trophy for best artistic concept for an upcoming mural project in Bridgeport. The final design for the project has not yet been chosen. Alicia in particular thanked Razul Branch of Bridgeport Creates and Elizabeth Torres at Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust for supporting the arts and Bridgeport.

Heidi Lewis Colman had her Equinox 2 (2017, acrylic and cut paper on canvas, 24" x 24", at right) juried into the The Ridgefield Guild of Artists 40th Annual Juried Exhibition, opening reception: Sat. Sept. 24, 4-6pm. Heidi writes "Equinox 2 is part of my Dreamscape Series which reflects an exploration of imaginary landscapes inspired by the ancient lands of mythology and cultural lore, whether historical, fictional or fantastical."

Carol Nipomnich Dixon’s embroidered collage Beach Pass Fragments (click for larger image), is on view at the juried Stamford Art Association’s exhibition Bits and Pieces at the Ferguson Library Gallery through January 18. Her 13” square framed, 2015, work incorporates pieces of used passes to Greenwich Point with found paper and fibers, using embroidery thread to connect the remnants. The warm reds, oranges, hot pinks, and yellows expresses the summer heat.

Susan Fehlinger will be exhibiting her paintings in a solo show at Harborview Market, a popular restaurant in Black Rock. She will be showing recent oil paintings of some of the local architecture in this historic district of Bridgeport. The House at Seaview Terrace (2017, oil on canvas, 30x30", at right) features the iconic home on the corner of Seaview Terrace and Seabright Avenue built in 1875 by a prominent sea captain for his two daughters. It is a three-story two-family home with two identical mirror image residences. The work will be on view from Oct. 1 through Oct. 30 at 218 Harborview Avenue, Black Rock -open 7 days a week for breakfast and lunch, 6am-5pm

Heide Follin is one of the five artists selected by Sorelle Gallery for a group show at the gallery next summer from their work shown at the Carriage Barn Arts Center's 40th Annual Members Show. Heide is showing her High Mountain Pass (2017, acrylic on #300 watercolor paper, 22" x 30", detail at right, click for larger image). Heide is also showing Escargot Begonia Night at the 37th Faber Birren National Color Award Show at the Stamford Art Association.

Herm Freeman has a solo show: Park City Visions...& Other Scenes From My East End Window, opening (as the opening show of a new program of showing local artists) Fri. Sept. 22, 5-8pm, at Sound View Community Media, 211 State Street, Bridgeport. At right is Respite (2017, acrylic on watercolor paper, 22x28", detail, click for larger image), part of Herm's ongoing series of local and imagined landscapes, largely inspired by the views out of his studio windows of Bridgeport's East End neighborhoods: "a combination of mixed geometries and rough beauty."

Lori Glavin won third place in the 37th Annual Faber Birren National Color Award Show, organized by the Stamford Arts Association. Her work Verdant (2017, collage on hand painted translucent rag paper, 32 x 24", at right, click for larger image) is part of a series working with many different colors in many different forms, using this same medium.

Joanie Landau's Hashtag Nation Quadriptych (2017, 4- 15x20" panels, printed on archival ink jet paper, face mounted to 1/4" Plexiglass; detail at right) are currently being shown in the Loft Artists Association's Visual Narratives show (through Sept. 24), as well as at RESIST at the Zenith Gallery (Washington, DC.). Fueled by the profusion of outrage in the form of hashtags on social media since the Trump Inauguration, these works serve as a visual diary of current dissent, confusion and anger. Each panel represents trending hashtags all within the first 60 days of office. She also has had her digital collagraphs, Ravello 1 and Ravello 2, accepted into 311 Gallery's Flowers and Gardens Juried Show in Raleigh, NC.

New member Julie Leff's Still Life with Peaches and Flowers (2017, oil on canvas, 37x32", detail at right, click for larger image) was recently featured in the pop-up show of the Westport Artists' Collective at the Westport Arts Center.

Susan Leggitt, on the basis of her Meander (2017, oil on canvas 11x17" detail at right), exhibited in the Carriage Barn's 40th Annual Member Show, was selected by New Canaan's Sorelle Gallery to be part of a five-person group show to be held there next summer. Meander is part of an ongoing new series of work based on Maine salt marshes. A companion piece, Popham Vista was selected for inclusion in the RGOA's 40th Annual Members Juried Show, opening Sat. 23. Both are based on her love of the Maine salt marshes and the deep sense of serenity and minimalism they convey.

New member Julia-Rose Liptak has two abstract paintings in the Memories of our Town exhibit at the City of Norwalk Parking Authority’s Maritime Garage Gallery, opening Tues. Sept. 26, 5-7pm. At right, Remington Window (2017, acrylic on canvas, 30x20", detail at right). Both of Julia-Rose's paintings in the show are inspired by Bridgeport. She says she has always had an affinity for urban beauty and pride for her hometown. "These artworks transform industry into vibrant color fields. They celebrate the architecture and spaces of a city with a great deal of history, as well as possibility."

Jane Lubin's Palustrine (2017, acrylic and collage, 18"x24" detail at right, click for complete image) can be seen at the RGOA's 40th Annual Juried Exhibition, opening Sat. Sept 23. This piece was inspired by Cecily Parks poem, "Palustrine," from her book O'Nights:
"...a pile of tree pieces propped over my sleeping bag, patterned with bees.
Half of my heart forages
Half of my heart fumbles
for the zipper pull between the wings.
Cartridged in the surrounding brambles
are berries that I shouldn't eat. ..."

Nancy Moore is showing her I Am So Much More (2017, watercolor & gouache, 39” x 35”, at right, click for larger image) in the The Ridgefield Guild of Artists 40th Annual Juried Exhibition, opening Sat. Sept 23. This is part of Nancy's larger Unconventional Women series. Nancy says that what she had in mind while working on this piece "is the place of women in the world, their strength as survivors, and their fragility: the fact that we’re all only a
membrane away from our surroundings."

Cynthia Mullins has two pieces in The Ridgefield Guild of Artists 40th Annual Juried Exhibition, opening Sat. Sept 23. At right is Blue, White, Aubergine and Amber, (2017, oil over watercolor, sealed, 24 x 24", click for larger image). She is also showing Color Wheels. Both pieces are constructed with a watercolor base of mostly flat color in pattern with oil paint applied over it to create the details of the flowers with the use of a squeegee and then hand painting. Composition is her first consideration when beginning these paintings. She been working on this series of contemporary florals for over two years.

Parkway South announces their debut album "Reckless Enlightenment" is now available. For married couple Mike & Heather Liebensohn, this record "represents the silver lining to many years of meandering and struggle." The songs have been described as sounding both "new and old" at the same time - rock mixed with a little blues and country, classic meets contemporary - and every track has been meticulously thought out and placed, deeply inspired by decades of living on the edges of insanity. Join them at their release party Wed. Sept. 27 6-8pm, at Bar 3 Thirty Three in Milford. Visit ParkwaySouthBand.com

Lynn Carlson Popat's whimsical blue oil painting titled
Carrot & Stick (2017, oil on canvas, 12x15" framed, detail at right, click for complete image) will be on view at The Ridgefield Guild of Artists 40th Annual Juried Exhibition, opening Sat. Sept 23.

Ben Quesnel's pieces are currently on display at the 10th annual Governors Island Art Fair. GIAF features the work of 100 artists presenting their work in the historic homes on Colonels Row. Gothamist highlights Ben's piece, Unburdened Bare as "an almost-spooky, almost-cute stuffed creature that's easily overlooked sitting down there at the bottom of some back stairs, but may startle you when you see it." The show will be open every Saturday and Sunday through September from 11am-6pm.

Alissa Siegal has a piece included in Sacred Heart University's new Center for Healthcare Education art collection, curated by Valerie Cooper and her team at Picture That Art Consulting. The painting is David (2017, oil on canvas, 30"x44", detail at right). Alissa also had work in SINGLE FARE, a big show of small works on used NYC MetroCards. Created by artists Michael Kagan and Jean-Pierre Roy, presented by New York Academy of Art and Highline Stages, Sun. Sept 17.

Liz Squillace made a big splash with her Painted Stairway on the Broad Street steps, adjacent to City Lights Gallery, Downtown Cabaret Theatre, and New England Ballet Company (NEBC) in Bridgeport when it was unveiled Thurs. Sept 9. The CT Post covered the opening, quoting Ken Hopkins, founding director of NEBC: "Now when we say the stairs, people know it’s these stairs specifically. It’s a great addition to Bridgeport." Liz's designs for the stairway can be seen in the City Lights show PATTERN, through Oct. 13. See Liz's ARTISTS TALK in which she discusses the Stairway, its evolution and its collaborative community-based completion.

Joan Wheeler has several works in Wax Poetic at Fabulon Gallery in Charleston. The exhibit is held in conjunction with a month-long city-wide poetry festival, "Free Verse", in October. Work will be on display Oct. 1 through Nov. 17. At right is Joan's Pansy (2017, encaustic on wood, 24x1x6")

Compiled List of Artist Member Openings & Events

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Fri. Sept. 22: Herm Freeman, Park City Visions...& Other Scenes From My East End Window, Sound View Community Media, 211 State Street, 4th fl., Bridgeport. Opening Reception, 5-8pm
Sun. Sept. 24: 40th Annual Juried Exhibition, The Ridgefield Guild of Artists. Opening Reception, 4-6pm.
Sun. Sept. 24: 37th Annual Faber Birren National Color Award Show, Stamford Arts Association. Opening reception, 4-6 pm. (Lori Glavin, Carol Nipomnich Dixon)
Tues. Sept. 26: City of Norwalk Parking Authority’s Maritime Garage Gallery, Memories of Our Town. Opening reception, 5-7pm. (Eric Chiang, Heidi Lewis Coleman, Julia-Rose Liptak and Al Coyote Weiner)
Wed. Sept 27:Parkway South CD Release Party. Bar 3 Thirty Three, 333 Boston Post Road, Milford, 6-8pm.

The Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County is a 501(c)(3) organization. We are very grateful for the support of our individual and organization members, our individual donors and the following organizations.

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