The Human Form

A Spectrum Gallery Exhibit
January 22-March 13, 2016

Maurice, mixed media, 8ft x 4ft by Claudine Burns Smith

Spectrum Gallery and Artisans Store presents The Human Form, January 22-March 13. This show includes the work of local and regional artists in a variety of mediums such as drawing, paintings in oil, acrylic, watercolor, ink and pastel, photography, fabric, and sculpture in marble, embellished concrete, terra cotta and bronze. The opening reception for the exhibit, located at 61 Main Street, Centerbrook, is Friday, January 22 from 6:30-9 pm. Several special events are also presented during the exhibit, including a Live Sculpting Demonstration on March 4 (6:30-9:00pm), by contemporary sculptor and painter Dr. Iván Tirado. ($5 material fee for nonmembers. Free for Members and Donors.) On Friday, January 29 (6:30-9:00pm), a Trunk Show presented by fine artisan and felter Irene Dizes, accompanied with wine. Models will present Ms. Dizes’ line of colorful and dramatic one-of-kind jackets, coats, scarves, bags and more.

As a special Valentine’s treat for visitors to Spectrum’s newest exhibit, The Human Form, the gallery offers free to the public the dance piece: Moving Forms. Presented by the modern dance company, River Valley Dance Project (RVDP), the work explores the human form in stillness and in movement, and delves into the transformative process of two bodies first separate, then uniting and entwining to create one living sculpture. Choreographer and RVDP Artistic Director Linalynn Schmelzer will perform with dancer Maris Valdiserra on Sunday, February 14 at 2:30pm and 4pm at Spectrum, 61 Main Street, Centerbrook, CT. For more information call (860) 767-0742.

Artists participating in The Human Form show include painters Bruce Adams, whose portraits explore notions of beauty and gender; Fabian Cortes, born and raised in Mexico City whose work is enhanced with powerful and spiritual metaphors; Barbara Borck-Hart, who has shown her work in museums and galleries across the US, uses a bold and fearless style that emphasizes line, color and form and in this exhibit, displays the agility of the body in her circus and dance paintings; Denise Gaffney Hartz, a painter who currently works in smaller formats and explores new ways of expression with abstract imagery; award-winning painter Ted Genard whose pieces explode with color works primarily in oil, graphite and charcoal; Amy K. Lewis who draws upon her own experiences and those of other cancer patients, using stylized painting techniques to highlight the abstraction of emotions; and Whitney Prentice, a contemporary oil painter specializing in the human figure and presented at the Dahesh Museum in New York, the New Britain Museum of American Art, and featured in American Artist magazine.

Working Without a Net, Soft Pastel Painting, 9 x 41in by Janet Rayner

Also participating in The Human Form is award-winning artist Judith Barbour Osborne, whose work can be described as luminous abstractions rendered in charcoal and subdued earth tones, powerfully evocative of the life experiences demonstrated in her nude figures; Dan Nichols, an impressionist painter who evokes mood and feeling within his work while exploring the luminous beauty of the pastel medium. painter and sculptor Janet Rayner, whose subject matter includes portraits with both representational and more fantastic depictions.

The Human Form lends itself uniquely to sculptural figures which are shown in a variety of mediums. Ceramic artists and sculptors in the show include Donna Holly Colburn who presents award-winning bronze works; Rosemary McClain who is exhibiting several terra cotta pieces; Ruth Sack whose figures embellished with a collection of objects accumulated over the years merge sculpture with the relics of life lived in a materialistic culture; and Claudine Burns Smith whose work explores her interest in myth and their expression in art forms of ancient and present tribal groups.

For the first time, Puerto Rican sculptor and painter Dr. Iván Tirado presents his work at Spectrum and includes pieces created from bonded marble and bronze; his work has been published in multiple books and is found in private collections worldwide. Artists returning to Spectrum Gallery for The Human Form include painters Ursula Coccomo, Margaret von Kleist Emond, Christine Miller, Sharon Morgio, and fabric artist Wilma Cogliantry.

Conclave no. 2, original print on Luster Paper, 4ft x 5ft by Ann Hodgdon Cyr

Photographers exhibiting include Larry Bilansky, well-known for his nude portraits and figure studies and images that move beyond photorealism; Ann Hodgdon-Cyr who works in both black and white and color, as well as exclusively with film and darkroom printing; and finally Kiana Honarmand, an Iranian-born photographer who focuses on issues related to her cultural identity, particularly treatment of women and the mentally and physically disabled in her homeland, the male gaze, censorship, and surveillance.

In addition to the Gallery, Spectrum includes the Artisans Store, offering distinctive pottery, serving ware, home decor, jewelry and fine accessories. Many new items have been added for The Human Form show including for the first time pottery embedded with images of the human body. Spectrum Gallery and Store is open Wednesday through Friday (11am-6pm); Saturday (11:30-6pm) and Sunday (11:30am-5pm). Spectrum is an expansion of the non-profit Arts Center Killingworth, which in addition to offering classes, workshops and camps for all ages, provides opportunities for established and emerging artists to develop, display and sell their work. More information call (860) 767-0742 and visit spectrumartgallery.org. Learn more about the Arts Center Killingworth call (860) 663-5593.