Aldrich and Guild Announce 2007 Radius Artists
September, 2007
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and the Ridgefield Guild of Artists are pleased to announce the 2007 exhibition Radius: Emerging Artists from Connecticut and Southeastern New York.
Radius is a juried exhibition open to any artist resident in Connecticut, or Westchester, Putnam, or Dutchess counties in New York, who does not have commercial gallery representation in a major market. This year the exhibition at the Ridgefield Guild of Artists will feature the work of:
Susan Classen-Sullivan (Canterbury, CT); Mark DeLura (Millerton, NY); Dalton M. Ghetti (Bridgeport, CT); Matthew Jensen (Willimantic, CT); Bryan Jones (New Haven, CT); keegan & nick (Shrub Oak, NY); Peter Konsterlie (Black Rock, CT); Beth Livensperger (New Haven, CT); Mari Ogihara (Mamaroneck, NY); Vesselina Traptcheva (Sleepy Hollow, NY); Rita Valley (Bridgewater, CT); and Torrance York (New Canaan, CT).
The exhibition opens on Saturday, October 27, 2007 with a reception at the Guild, 34 Halpin Lane, Ridgefield, from 4 to 7 pm, and will remain on view through November 18, 2007. Refreshments will be served. This event will follow the Radius Professional Practice Forum featuring Harry Philbrick at 2 pm at The Aldrich, 258 Main Street, Ridgefield.
More information concerning the program is available online at www.aldrichart.org/about/radius.php.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Susan Classen-Sullivan
Susan Classen-Sullivan from Canterbury, CT, has created a large sculpture which viewers can set in motion by rotating its components, much like a large planetary system. Classen-Sullivan recently participated in the Connecticut Contemporary exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. She has also exhibited at the Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport; New Britain Museum of American Art; and John Slade Ely House, New Haven. She earned her M.F.A. from Wesleyan University and is currently a professor of Visual Fine Arts and director of the Newspace Gallery at Manchester Community College, CT.
Mark DeLura
Mark DeLura resides in Millerton, NY. His paintings recall excursions into the Adirondack wilderness, with the shapes and colors he finds translated into art. Back in his studio, he takes inspiration from his treks, hand-brushing patterns of full-bodied oil paints in vertical stripes set against dark background colors.
Dalton M. Ghetti
The work of Dalton M. Ghetti, of Bridgeport, CT, demonstrates the epitome of care and patience. Graphite is commonly used to make drawings, less commonly used to make sculptures. Ghetti creates miniature sculptures of common items — a boot, a chain of hearts, or a complete alphabet — on the tips of lead pencils.
Matthew Jensen
From January to March, before the leaves of surrounding trees blossomed, Matthew Jensen walked 89 miles of city streets in his hometown of Willimantic, CT, to photograph every spruce tree in town, whether alive or dead or even plastic. As important as the trees are their settings, epitomizing a New England town. Jensen is an M.F.A. candidate at the University of Connecticut at Storrs, concentrating on photography and sculpture, where he is also an instructor and teaching assistant in photography. This year, his work was seen in a solo exhibition at the Windham Arts Center, Willimantic, CT.
Bryan Jones
Bryan Jones of New Haven, CT, creates oil paintings set in darkened environments, depicting sumptuous, elaborate still lifes constructed of cosmetics, fabric, wax and wire, which glisten when set against the light of the heavens. Jones recently moved to New Haven from Tennessee, where he received a B.F.A. in Painting and Drawing, with honors, from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
keegan & nick
Humorous performance videos and kinetic sculptures of mechanical brilliance are created by the duo from Shrub Oak, NY, keegan & nick. They have studied at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, and Ohio University, Athens, NY. In New York they have exhibited at the Katonah Museum of Art, the Paramount Center for the Arts, and the Northern Westchester Center for the Arts.
Peter Konsterlie
Peter Konsterlie of Black Rock, CT, created graphic, expressive, colorful anatomical paintings in response to a loved one illness and medical treatment. Bold black lines drip paint diagrams and scientific notations. Konsterlie is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Bridgeport and a studio arts instructor at the Housatonic Community College, Bridgeport, CT. He has exhibited at the Sarah Bowen Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, as well as many galleries in Connecticut, including ARTredSpot Gallery, Westport; City Lights Gallery, Bridgeport; the Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport; and RealArtWays, Hartford.
Beth Livensperger
Beth Livensperger from New Haven, CT. earned a B.F.A. at The Cooper Union and is currently an M.F.A. candidate at Yale. She received a two-year career development fellowship from the Creative Artists Network, Philadelphia, in 2003 and has participated in exhibitions at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Philadelphia, and the Center for Emerging Visual Artists/Chashama, New York City. Her work focuses on classrooms and office spaces, interiors common to many viewers.
Mari Ogihara
Mari Ogihara of Mamaroneck, NY, makes intricately glazed porcelain sculptures. Her studies have concentrated on ceramics, receiving an B.F.A. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an M.F.A. from the Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia. She has conducted research in both India and Japan. Ogihara teaches at the Clay Arts Center, Port Chester, NY, and is currently a Visiting Artist at Southern Connecticut University, New Haven, CT.
Vesselina Traptcheva
Vesselina Traptcheva, of Sleepy Hollow, NY, received a Yaddo Fellowship in 2003, a Skowhegan Fellowship in 2002, and an award in the Silvermine Guild's 53rd annual Art of the Northeast exhibition in 2002. She holds an M.F.A. from the Parsons School of Design. In 2000, her work was included in the M.F.A. edition of New American Paintings. She is an instructor at Westchester Community College, Bergen Community College, and the Maryland Institute College of Art. Traptcheva produces drawings on large sheets of paper featuring groves of trees. Each tree is rendered in a narrow range of flesh tones using egg tempera, pencil, and white pencil.
Rita Valley
Rita Valley of Bridgewater, CT, makes eccentrically entertaining work — paintings, sculptures, books, photographs, quilted banners, installations, even mobile installations, and mixed media — recycled from magazines, packing tape, even automobiles. Valley and her work often command an outstanding presence at the alternative space of New Haven's annual City-Wide Open Studios.
Torrance York
Torrance York lives with her family in New Canaan, CT. She earned an M.F.A. in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design. An artist member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists, she recently received an award at the Guild's 58th annual Art of the Northeast exhibition and will have work included in their SPECTRA 2007 photography triennial. She is an educator who also serves on the Education Committee of the International Center of Photography in New York City. York's recent color landscape photographs are shot in rural and urban landscapes, using a shallow depth of field. Up close, unfocused areas encourage us to examine the simple beauty of the photographic medium, while focused areas accentuate the sharp intimate details of minute objects in play with their surroundings.
