VIRTUAL DISPLAY- May Artist of the Month: Liz Crimi Olsson

Liz Crimi Olsson

Having grown up around art and artists, I have become a very visual person. Sometimes I think I see what others may not see. Very often I may be taking a walk or driving my car and my eye is caught by something beautiful. Something that I think will make a beautiful photograph or

painting or sculpture.

I come from a family of artists and sculptors, both professional and non-professional. As a child my mother took me to the many art museums in New York City and I fell in love with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I always participated in special art projects in elementary school. I spent childhood summers in our little cottage in Lake Carmel where I sketched and painted the wildflowers, made outfits for my paper dolls, and taught myself needlework. I majored in art in high school and participated in several art projects. I majored in art in college where I studied sketching, life drawing, design, sculpture, and art history. The creative genes in me always found a way to surface…either by painting stage sets for community theater, needlework, making my own clothing, assorted crafts, baking, cooking, gardening, painting and wallpapering my home, directing the repainting of a Westchester railroad station, and as an active member of a town beautification committee. In my more recent years I have visited Italy and Sicily many times to revel in the art of the masters.  However, I never really learned how to “paint”.

I have always been attracted to the beauty of watercolor. I never had the confidence to take a watercolor painting class until I met an artist in a gallery who encouraged me to take the plunge. So I enrolled in classes at the Putnam Arts Council, the Westchester Community College Center for the Arts at the White Plains County Center, the Bronx Botanical Gardens, HRCE (Hudson River Community Education) in Dobbs Ferry. I have participated in many art workshops in watercolor, acrylics, calligraphy, and drawing at several public libraries.

I am a member of the Putnam Arts Council in Mahopac, NY and Arts-on-the-Lake in Lake Carmel, NY. I have participated in local group art shows and have sold some of my watercolor paintings.

I have fallen in love with the meditative aspect of painting which allows me to focus on my art and put all worries aside! Having  been bitten by the ”painting bug”, I hope I have enough years to paint all the beauty around me.

2020

VIRTUAL GALLERY: 

Vinny Johnston Artwork on Display at Kent Public Library

Vinny Johnston

In the spring of 2019 I started to photograph sections of my paintings done on canvas. I wanted to capture the energy and movement that I had in the paintings and hopefully make it more accessible for viewers. For some reason I started to add cut flowers to the mix. I really can’t explain how this happened, but I’m glad that it did. I then had the photos printed on metal. I think this process results in brilliant, rich color that is striking. The 16x24 prints in this exhibit are some of the early pieces from this latest journey.

All prints are priced at $300. If interested you can contact me at 845-549-2386

Jeannette Rodriguez Artwork on Display at Kent Public Library

Art At The Kent Library Sponsored by the Friends of the Kent Library

Exhibition runs from February 1st - 29th, 2020

OCEAN BLUE

Jeanette Rodriguez, Alcohol Inks on Yupo Paper

Nature has always been a fascination of mine. It’s no surprise to me that I see nature’s serenity and spirit refelected in my creations. My Alcohol Ink paintings on yupo paper replicate connections and relationships that compose our world. Layer upon layers of color, my compositions project a surreal quality and calmness in an abstract dream-like setting. I find myself drawn to the tranquility of a forest or the colors of the sea. The formation of coral reef and it's ocean creatures. I seek to capture that kind of beauty, moment, or feeling in my artwork. 

My art is an expression of my humanity and my spiritual growth; it helps me to live consciously and courageously with compassion. And if along the way I awaken someone else’s spirit and inspire another to create; than my work is done!

About the Artist

Jeanette Rodriguez received her Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her work has been exhibited in galleries throughout New York. She is an award-winning artist whose work hangs on the walls in private collections. Rodriguez is the founder of “Soul Painting” which she teaches in various locations throughout the Hudson Valley. In addition, Ms. Rodriguez has taught jewelry and Alcohol Ink workshops in Mayer, Arizona and on the Big Island of Hawaii. She is a member of ArtEast Dutchess and an artisan at the Pawling Farmers Market, where she sells her handmade Dichroic glass pendants and Alcohol Ink paintings. For six years, she has served as the Art Director for the Friends of the Kent Library and has curated more than 60 exhibitions in the Hudson Valley area. Presently, she resides in Lake Carmel where she continues to paint, exhibit and practices yoga and Reiki.

For more information email: jeanetterodriguezinks@gmail.com or visit jeanetterodriguez.net

In Memory of Donald Longabucco- Artwork on Display at Kent Public Library

 In Memory of Donald Longabucco 1939 – 2019

Don Longabucco explored many different types of artistic techniques over the years. His work started with figurative oil paintings and watercolors, then changed to abstracts, and finally to paper collages. His meticulously cut out small pieces of paper create a riot of disconnected color at first sight, but actually require concentration and quiet as the viewer peers at individual pieces and paths within the total work. He built each collage organically as he worked.

Mr. Longabucco was among the founding members of Arts on the Lake and was part of the Visual Arts Committee, setting up and participating in the two shows presented at AotL each year.

Mr. Longabucco sadly passed away on December 4, 2019. 

Kent Public Library's Charlotte Victoria Artwork on Display at Kent Public Library

Charlotte Victoria, program coordinator at the Kent Library (and frequently one of their crafting instructors), will be the library’s December Artist of the Month. The exhibit will consist of a series of graphite portraits of characters in the series of science-fantasy novels about a diverse ensemble cast of mermaids, which Charlotte has been writing since 2008. An artist reception with snackage will take place on Saturday, December 14 at 12:30 (this is also Charlotte's birthday, but don't feel like you have to come, but please do come). Charlotte's work will hang in the library from December 2 until December 28.

Artist Statement:
The Undine Isles refers to a series of novels I have been working on since October, 2008, when I was 17. The starting point at which we enter the Isles is when the protagonist, Grace Gallo, gets sucked in and becomes aware that she is now a biologically immortal mermaid, and that she can never go home to her human life or family ever again.

But quickly, both we and Grace discover that the Isles are full of vibrant, diverse, and fascinating womxn who hail from all times and places in earth history. One of my goals in this project is that anyone could imagine themselves as a citizen of the Isles. I am in love with the Kent Library community, who have given me so much love and support, so it’s very special to me that you are taking the time to get acquainted with the most important part of my creative life. Thank you. ~CV

Charlotte Victoria has been a program coordinator at the Kent Public Library since July, 2018, and has worked here since February, 2016. They are currently finishing up their Bachelor’s degree in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at SUNY New Paltz, from whence they are set to graduate in May, 2020.

You can find them online at www.gaymermaidnovelist.com.

Patrick J. Cicalo Artwork on Display at Kent Public Library

REACTANT

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but it is necessity’s child that interests me most. All too often the cycle of life and art reach an apex only to become predictable and stagnant. But out of boredom something grows.

Recently, with idle hands and a head filled with doubt, I took up a project that was partially triggered by a challenge but mostly on a whim. I needed to add a bit of the random to what I’d been doing in my photography and fell headlong into the chemigrams you see here.

In simplest terms, without the use of camera or lens, the chemigram process marries everyday household ingredients with light, traditional silver gelatin photo paper and common darkroom chemistry. But perhaps more importantly, a large dose of trial and error, with the latter being most necessary in giving birth to 

REACTANT (2018-2019).

  - Patrick J. Cicalo

Patrick J. Cicalo

(b.1957, New York, United States) 

Bio

A photographer in the contemplative surrealistic style and more recently chemigrams, an alternative camera-less & lens-less photographic process.

A founding partner of Red Circle PhotoArts Collective and an exhibiting member of Soho Photo Gallery in NYC. Current president of Ground Glass, a fine art photography group established in 1975 and based in the Metro NY/Westchester/Fairfield County area.

Website: www.patrickcicalo.com

Instagram: @patrickcicalo