Submitted by Barbara Nair
(May 30, 2023) — Discover the newest work by emerging and established fine artists and artisans from Connecticut, New England, and the tri-state region at the Annual Summer Arts Festival on the Essex Town Green. Presented by Arts Center Killingworth and Spectrum Gallery in Centerbrook, the Festival is Saturday, June 17, 2023, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday, June 18, 2023, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
In addition, visit Spectrum Art Gallery and Store, awarded 2022 Best Gallery on the Connecticut Shoreline, at 61 Main Street, Centerbrook to view the current exhibit, Nature Celebrates, running now through July 8, 2023
The Essex Town Green at 12 Main Street is the place to find original artwork by painters – both representational and abstract – working in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, photography, and mixed media collage. An extensive collection of fine crafts can be found in pottery, ceramic, wood, glass, as well as unique jewelry and clothing creations. The Arts Center and Spectrum Gallery are also pleased to announce that Festival sponsor Andersen Windows will be on the Green, welcoming visitors and sharing information about their products and services.
Many artists will be showing for the first time at the Summer Festival including Racquel Miller, an acrylic abstract artist inspired by nature, music, and life experiences; Molly Waite Lund, an analog collage artist who experiments with color, shape, relationships, and negative space; Artist Doug Troland paints mostly in an abstract expressionist style in acrylic, focusing on still life, landscapes and coastal imagery.
Carol Courtney creates with alcohol ink. choosing subjects that are organic and offer unique results given the unpredictability of this medium. Chris Penry specializes in Pulp Painting, making paper with inclusions from nature, and in paper made from Thai Kozo—a fiber from the Mulberry plant. Wendy Campbell is a mixed media artist who works with textiles and has a background in weaving. Linda Hallinan works in acrylics and draws inspiration from the smallest of details of daily life.
Megan Emily Ely is a surrealist and fantasy artist based in Colchester. She is inspired by fairytales, mysticism, nature, dreams, and magic. Artist Jennifer Gibson is an illustrator of children’s books and creates commercial art. Returning to the festival is Anna Mastropolo, a textile artist, jewelry designer, and large-scale gouache and mixed media painter.
Other painters and mixed media artists include Catherine Satsuk who exhibits several oils on canvas and watercolors.
Award-winning artist Jeannette Delmore (image above) explores watercolor and loves the flow and mystery of the medium. Maria Johnson works in acrylic, ceramic and creates unique jewelry designs. Returning artist Tatiana Ferraro has new creations in watercolor, and mixed media artist Deborah Simmons is also back with new oil and wax creations.
Lisa Conti merges a passion for nature and photography with pen and ink. She uses original photographs, often capturing images on travel adventures and incorporates pen and ink to add contrast and enhance textural features. Mixed media artist Patti Maher will be on the Green with new watercolor and pen and ink works. Barbara Hernandez-Froehlich creates small mixed-media art as she decorates seashells with imagery to make one-of-a-kind pieces. Lisa Fatone uses watercolor and creates unique jewelry designs.
Photography is well represented on the Green with Scott Camphausen, an award-winning photographer who draws inspiration from the ocean and nature around him. Robert Thomas, returns with limited-edition, fine art photographic waterscapes and landscapes. Karen Burke creates humorous photographic images of fantasy moments of animals and nature. Photographer Larry Reitz portrays scenes of stunning rivers and waterfalls on canvas, and also presents a variety of fountain pens crafted from metal and fine woods such as maple and walnut. Paul Ramsey offers new fine art photographs on metal, capturing the beauty of nature and other captivating subject matter, as does award-winner photographer Judith Secco, who has developed her own technique using layers, textures and composites to create “painterly” photographic images.
Many fine artisans will exhibit their creations including Deborah Churchill, an artist who crafts exquisite mandala artworks using a technique called “dotism,” painting with small, distinct dots of color in patterns to form elaborate images.
For the first time at the Summer Festival is Monica Hewryk, a ceramic artist and educator (image above). Her recent focus has been creating two different bodies of work that use wheel thrown and hand building techniques.
As always, a wide mix of unique and daring fine jewelry can be had in multiple styles for the discriminating wearer. A mixture of materials to be found include semi-precious stones, sterling silver and other fine metals used by designers such as Joanna Biskupski, Lori Meehan, Sue Braden, and Joan Wenzel, and new to the Festival, Sharon Smith-Alling.
Visitors to the Green can preview artists and fine artisans presenting at the Festival and Spectrum Gallery by visiting spectrumartgallery.org. To shop online, visit Spectrum Anytime at spectrumanytime.com. For more information, call (860) 767-0742.
