Surface Tension

Dear Friends:

The last two weeks were a whirlwind of activity as we broke down our January group show and installed our current exhibit Surface Tension. New work by Mary Pritchard and Larry Schroth grace the walls of the Front Gallery while sculpture by Seiko Behr and Leigh Wen accent the interior space. The Lower Gallery is filled with photographs, prints, and works in oil, acrylic, pastel, graphite, wood, marble and clay by Emmy Savage, Carol Rowan, Celia Pearson, Susan Tessem, Martha Oatway, Vicco Von Voss, and Claire McArdle. We had a large crowd for opening night despite a driving rain, heavy fog, and major delays at the Severn River and Bay bridges. We are always surprised and delighted by the turn out on First Fridays.

Mary Pritchard and Emmy Savage stayed until the lights went off visiting with friends and collectors before leaving at dawn the next morning for the Vermont Studio Center. Founded by artists in 1984, the Vermont Studio Center is the largest artists' and writers' Residency Program in the United States, hosting fifty visual artists and writers each month from across the country and around the world. The Studio Center provides four to twelve week studio residencies on an historic thirty building campus along the Gihon River in Johnson, Vermont, a village in the heart of the northern Green Mountains. Several Gallery artists have used the Center for an intensive studio experience and as a vehicle for exploration. One of our favorite artists, the late Edda Jakab, earmarked the Center as the recipient for donations made to her estate. It was a wonderful way for friends to honor her life and provide opportunities for artists in the future. To learn more visit: http://vermontstudiocenter.org/

The inspiration for Larry Schroth’s new Kalambaka Wall series of digital inkjet prints was drawn directly from his observations of centuries old surfaces on his recent trip to Greece. A continuation of his Roma and Italia graffiti series, Larry will use these new images as studies for paintings he hopes to create during the coming year. Those of us familiar with his paintings share with him the slightly unsettling experience of seeing ghostly images so similar to the graphic quality of his acrylics on weathered surfaces half way around world. The very human trait of mark-making continues through his vision – from the walls, to the prints, to the paintings. Master printer George Holzer was on hand to explain the technical aspects of transferring Larry’s photographic images to paper although he allowed that very little manipulation takes place. Images are not “photoshopped” but the textures and colors come alive in the process of creating the IRIS prints. Posted below are the more traditional views Larry brought home from Greece. Here's a note from Larry -

The "Kalambaka Wall Series" currently on display at the Carla Massoni Gallery grew out of a November 2007 Overseas Adventure Travel Tour my wife and I took to Greece. We were part of a group of twenty-four individuals guided by Ms. Elsa Salas, a Greek National born in Athens. Elsa speaks four languages (Greek, English, Italian and French) and has a degree in art history from the Sorbonne. She was a terrific resource, and had a wonderful sense of humor.

We spent a week touring the Greek mainland via tour bus (Athens, Arachova, Delphi, Kalambaka) and a week on the Panorama - a three masted sailing schooner, which allowed us to visit several Greek Islands (Tinos, Delos, Naxos, Syros and Santorini) then back to Pireaus - the main port of Athens.

Here are a few of the images from the trip - enjoy!

Gallery artists Robbi Behr and Matthew Swanson of Idiots’Books fame (The Next Generation – 2007) invite you to come out of mid-winter hibernation the weekend of February 15-16 for Idiots’Fest 2008, a festival in celebration of literature and music and the overlap between the two.

The eclectic lineup of guest artists includes 2007 National Book Award Finalist Jim Shepard, debut novelist Brian Slattery, leading string theorist Brian Wecht, NYC comic Victor Wishna, and Episcopal priest/punk rocker Drew Bunting among others.

A reading and acoustic concert Friday evening at the Washington College Literary House will be followed by a daylong extravaganza Saturday at Tom Martin’s Bookplate on Cross Street. The entertainment is free to all, and a full spread of slow-cooked Virginia barbeque (ribs, brisket, chicken, and stir-fried veggies) will be available for $10 a head. In his thirty years of catering, barbeque master Sam Gadell has cooked for such discerning luminaries as Harry Connick Jr., Bonnie Raitt, and Victor Borga. Which is to say, he knows what he’s doing, folks. Pete Brocker’s Play it Again Sam will be open late for those wanting to enjoy a glass of wine or cold beer with their dinner.

Visit www.idiotsbooks.com/STR.html for the full schedule, performer bios, and more about the idiot hosts.

Plan to stop by the Gallery to see the new exhibit and then wander up the street to support this artistic endeavor. Matthew and Robbi are such talented young artists and we hope to see you next weekend. We’ll be covering the Gallery in shifts so we don’t miss it either!

P.S. Gallery hours for February have been extended. Too many of you have been making the trek mid-week. We will be open on Thursday and Friday from 11 – 4 and on Saturday from 10 – 5. We’ll go back to our regular hours in March.