Carla Goldberg "The Passage " (mixed media) Artist Statement “SOUNDINGS” is a series based on abstracted Riverscapes playing with the idea of sonic underwater imaging and topography of the bottom of the Hudson River. I like to think of this work as mapping the unseen. There is an interplay and exploration of elements of traditional topography and unusual mixed media. I use many materials in my work for texture. My paintings evolve in layers using pieces of found and re-purposed materials. Anything I find interesting or unusual is fair game including miss-mixed house paint, drywall compound, frozen dinner trays, bugs, beads, and ground glass glued into cut canvas embedded beneath many layers of interference paint, oil paint and resin. For me, resin is both a stabilizer for all the unstable materials put to canvas but more importantly acts as a metaphor for water. The materials lend themselves to the synergy of liquid rhythm flowing and coiling through the canvases. There is depth lingering under the tides of colors. Textures and patinas are an important facet of my work and lend a sense of history or encourage stories for the viewer to create. The boxes glued in some of the pieces are meant to make you feel as if you are digging through time.  The titles for “Soundings” come from Robert Juet’s 1609 journal of weather and depth measurements. Juet sailed aboard the “Half Moon” with Henry Hudson exploring what became “America’s First River” while searching for the elusive Northwest Passage to the riches of the Far East. 2009 marks the “Quadricentennial” of the exploration of the Hudson. I hope this work sparks the imagination of the viewer. The Hudson is Living History and a microcosm for the ecology of the world around us. The beauty of the river is not just on the surface. There is a whole world to explore beneath the surface as well. While these paintings are about the Hudson River, the story is a universal one. Life, communities, industry instinctively begin along a waters edge. Carla Goldberg 2009	Carla Goldberg "The Cusp " (mixed media)     Carla Goldberg "We Sounded for the Bank " (mixed media)
Anne Hebebrand "Crimson Pall " (oil on board)	Anne Hebebrand "Morning Light " (oil on board)
Anne Hebebrand "Red Mist" (oil on panel)	ARTIST STATEMENT:  Anne Hebebrand, 2009 My work is about process, the physicality of the materials and an emotional richness of color. I explore new directions through various approaches to mark making and creating texture on the picture surface. I am inspired by nature. I create paintings and drawings through a process of observation and spiritual inwardness. The ocean, the sky, the moon and plant shapes and even cell formations are reoccurring themes in my work. To me they are metaphors for the cycles of ebb and flow in our lives, visible forms revealing beginnings and endings. The oil paintings are studies in color and atmosphere. Limiting myself to two rectangles divided by a horizon line I explore color, light and surface texture to create a variety of moods ranging from dramatic to restrained. These paintings do not portray any particular place, but are explorations of the emotional power of color. “The real significance of her latest work, however, lies in the fact that it goes beyond the physical recognition of nature, beyond the earthly space to the spirit within.” – Lois Tarlow, 2007

 

Michael Mulhern "Thinkin the House empty....." (acrylic on Mylar)   Artist Statement Artist Statement My working position is located between two thoughts. The first comes from a statement by Flaubert made in 1870. "There is a part of everything which is unexplored, because we are accustomed to using our eyes only in association with the memory of what people before us have thought of the thing we arelooking at. Even the smallest thing has something in it which is unknown.” The second thought comes from the words of the Stalker in Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film of the same name. The Stalker is a man who leads people thru an everchanging environment known as the Zone: “Our moods, our thoughts, our emotions, our feelings can bring about change here. And we are in no condition to comprehend them. Old traps vanish, new ones take their place; the old safe places become impassable, and the route can either be plain or easy or impossibly confusing. That is how the Zone is. It may even seem capricious. But in fact, at any moment it is exactly as we devise it, in ourconsciousness……everything that happens here depends on us, not on the Zone.” As I have taken and used these words in lieu of a statement, so I have appropriated these rooms from a wide range of sources. My process of renovating and transforming the rooms reflects the intuitive forces of memory and perception at work in a visually fluid world. Michael W. Mulhern 2009

Michael Mulhern "Telling the whole story seem everyday less likely" (acrylic on Mylar)   Michael Mulhern "Non of the errors of the house were theirs" (acrylic on Mylar)

Jerry Sims "Wabbaseka, ARK (photograph) Artist Statement For the past several years I have placed more emphasis on creative, yet effective composition in my photographs: where the main subject and other objects are placed within the viewfinder. The challenge has been making the subject relatively smaller but arranging its supporting cast in a way that draws attention to it. This “arrangement” involves seeing around the subject in all directions then moving the camera to an ideal position. Despite these efforts, any photograph will ultimately be made or broken by the directions, intensity, and volume of light. Oftentimes I have found that color gets in the way of a good photograph just as the facts often get in the way of the truth. Conversely, color is frequently essential to the story and it may be the subject itself. The Wabbaseka Project evolved as a result of a compulsion to visit the town where my mother was born whenever I went home to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Whereas I feel like I know the people of Pine Bluff, I feel as though I’m related to the people 15 miles up the road. The photo of Brin and her children could just as easily have been my mother and older siblings. The town is old and worn but its people are in the trenches, and in general have no desire to leave except for an occasional visit to Wal-Mart in “the Bluff”. Jerry Sims            2009

Jerry Sims "Wabbaseka, ARK " (photograph) Jerry Sims "Wabbaseka, ARK" (photograph)

 

***Directions and gallery hours are at the bottom of this page.

• For an extensive Calendar including "Artist Talks" and Poetry Nights" please refer to the
• "Schedule of Events" page of our website.

About our Calendar of Events :

Artist or Gallery talks are a great opportunity for the public to have casual evenings with exhibiting artists to gain a greater understanding of the artists, their mediums, methods, and inspirations. (Wednesday evenings, 6 pm as listed above)

Our Art Exhibition Opening Receptions are joyous evenings, which mark the beginning of a new exhibition and include live Jazz, cocktails, and hors d'oeuvres. The openings are held on the first day of each exhibition, (unless otherwise specified) all Friday evenings, from 6 - 8 pm.

All of these events are open to the public. (Free to members and students. All others are asked to give a $3 donation)

All current members are notified by mail of these events.

Gallery Hours: Wed. - Sun. noon-4pm

phone: 860-405-9052

Directions: I-95 North to Exit #87 (Clarence B Sharpe Hwy.)

Second Set of Stoplights take a right, then a left at the next stoplight.

Go past Pfizer Corp. and shortly after the Shennecossett Golf Course

you will see the entrance to the University of Connecticut's

Avery Point Campus. The Gallery is located in the Branford House Mansion,

on the 2nd Floor.

Comments, questions or suggestions on this page should be e-mailed to:

julia.pavone@uconn.edu

Created on March 8, 2006 by (JP) updated on 6/9/09