"Collage" show at the Sharon Arts Center

The Sharon Arts Center will collaborate with McGowan Fine Art in Concord to present “Collage,” an exhibition featuring the work of Ted Arnold, Catherine Bartlett-Hirani, Avy Claire, John LaPrade, Thomas Meyers, James Palmigiano, Lauren Pollaro, Paul Pollaro, and Jessie Pollock.

Sponsored by People's United Bank, "Collage" will be on display at the Sharon Arts Exhibition Gallery, 30 Grove Street, from November 4 through January 7, 2012. An opening reception will be held November 4 from 5 to 7 pm.

The exhibition is the first sponsored by Sharon Arts Center that focuses entirely on collage--works of art made from the assemblage of various materials. The technique has been employed by artists for hundreds of years, especially in the application of cut or torn papers and gold leaf to enhance a painted surface, but the term collage--from the French “coller,” to glue--first came into common use with the work of Picasso and Braque in the early 20th century.

Collage has evolved with contemporary artists as a way of bringing together disparate materials to create a wholly new object or image. The collaging or layering of elements can make use of the external meaning suggested by the components, including newspaper or magazine clippings, stamps, labels, or sheet music; or by allusion to the previous life of materials such as scraps of fabric, pieces of wood, leaves and other natural objects, or industrial remnants. Collaged works can vary from flat assemblies of colored or textured papers to works using three-dimensional materials that approach sculpture.

Each of the artists included in the Sharon Arts Center exhibition brings an individual vision and interpretation to this style of picture making. In the work of Paul Pollaro and Ted Arnold, color is the primary focus. Bright reds and vivid oranges bind the pieces together, but Pollaro’s focus is on abstract landscape-like forms while Arnold depicts people, wedding parties and tea cups. Thomas Meyers and Avy Claire have a more ethereal approach. Meyers’ delicate ink and casein washes lend subtle touches of color and line to his torn paper collages. Claire prints images onto mylar, which is sewn down and layered with excerpts from her personal journals.

Collage allows artists to explore qualities of depth and texture, as well as the layering of meaning through the cultural references inherent in some of the recognizable elements. The Sharon Arts Center and McGowan Fine Arts expect this exhibition to provide an in-depth look at the diversity possible in this exciting art form.

In conjunction with this exhibit there will be several events held in the Gallery:

Saturday, Nov. 12 and 16 from 10 am to noon: Kids Collage Mini-Workshop for ages 5+. Preregistration required. Call (603) 924-2787.

Saturday, Nov. 19 from 4-6 pm: Panel Discussion with Sarah Chaffee of McGowan Fine Art, Ted Arnold, and others.

Hours at the Gallery are Monday through Saturday 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday 11 am to 5 pm. For more information, call (603) 924-7676 and see http://www.sharonarts.org/.

The mission of Sharon Arts Center, a non-profit organization, is to engage the community in the artistic process, to support and serve artists and craftspeople, and to foster the relationship between artists and the community through education, exhibitions, and the promotion and sale of arts and crafts as well as through special programs and events.

Sharon Arts center offers a wide variety of art classes and programs in the school facility in Sharon, NH--a Fine Craft Gallery, a Juried Artist Member Gallery, and an Exhibition Gallery at Depot Square.

The Sharon Arts Fine Crafts Exhibition Gallery is accessed through Depot Square and 30 Grove St. in downtown Peterborough. The Craft Gallery is located in Depot Square in Downtown Peterborough. Store and Exhibition Gallery hours are: Monday - Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, Sunday 11 - 5 pm.

Sharon Arts is sponsored in part by: The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, The Susan A. & Donald P. Babson Charitable Foundation, The Bean Foundation, The Max & Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, The Grimshaw-Gudewicz Charitable Foundation, The Putnam Foundation, The Kingsbury Foundation, and art lovers like you!

Ted Arnold- Objects of Desire

McGowan Fine Art announces the opening of “Objects of Desire" featuring the paintings of Ted Arnold. The show will run from December 1-January 2, with an artist’s reception on December 4 from 5 to 7 PM.

Ted Arnold is a Dartmouth educated painter from Maine by way of California. The West Coast landscape still informs his still lifes and mise en scénes with strong light and vibrant colors, but his subject matter of china, teacups and other prosaic kitchen utensils are the stuff of more universal appeal. He also harnesses these bright colors to portray festive family gatherings and street scenes.

Arnold’s studio has shelves full of teacups, platter, urns, and richly decorated fabrics that he uses as models for the densely painted canvases. “I don’t think of my teacup paintings as simply stillifes” says Arnold, “but as conversations.” Each painting requires a careful balance of colors and shapes with a composition formed from his collection of china and fabric. Some cups- because of their unusual color or seductive shape- star in many of the paintings. Patterns of china emerge to create families- similar yet distinct like a reunion of cousins and siblings. Elegant bleeding blue china stars throughout the show as a counterpoint to the homely orange daisy teacup or green Fiesta ware plate. “The cups and pots and creamers are from many lands and of many persuasions like people in our cities,” says the artist.

Arnold also looks for the relationships- or conversations- between people. In “Billy’s Dinner” he has taken a very thin slice of home life- a family dinner. This painting is almost twelve feet long and broken into three sections. The length of the painting allows the story to unfold in time as you walk the length of it- a narrative in real time. People and the detritus of a meal are scattered across the surface. There are dark figures receding into the background, wine glasses and plates glint from the glowing candles. A hand holds up a glass to toast the figure across the room. Each person and table setting is truly having a conversation of color and form.

The reception takes place the evening of Midnight Merriment in Concord. The Main Street will be closed to traffic from Pleasant to Centre. Caroling and hay rides will be taking place on Main Street to celebrate the start of the Holiday Season. For more information visit mainstreetconcord.com.