HARTFORD — Newtown artist Roberta Shea’s art is being featured in a one-artist exhibition in Hartford.

Clare Gallery’s second 20th anniversary exhibition, “Old Growth” includes works by Shea, who started her artistic practice later in life. The collection is on view until May 12.

It wasn’t until moving to Newtown, where her new home has a “spectacular view across the street … that I discovered my path and a new direction to follow.”

Shea believes that it is “never too late to start over and make your mark,” and her marks are mesmerizing. Viewers find themselves getting caught up in the work’s rhythm, space, and emotional color palettes.

Her process is very physical with paint being dripped, scraped, dragged, and layered, creating thick impasto and thin surfaces of abstract representation. When focusing on one part of an image, it becomes its own abstract painting. Step back a bit and a larger landscape reveals itself.

Shea’s works evoke the spirit of nature, as she captures its emotional color. Her physical mark-making mimics nature’s powerful process of renewal. Her work expresses nature’s mystical quality.

Viewers see nature through Shea’s eyes: “I feel the primary purpose of art is to provide ways of looking at the world that stimulate and recharge the human imagination and at the same time provide a much-needed respite from the chaos of contemporary life.

Shea is a former art teacher at Masuk High School in Monroe. Since 2007, she has been an active docent at New Britain Museum of American Art, leading masterpiece tours.

Her work has been included in group shows at Society of Creative Arts of Newtown, The Mattatuck Museum, Washington Art Association & Gallery (WAA), Ridgefield Guild of Artists (RGA), New Britain Museum of American Art, and various Connecticut libraries. Solo exhibitions have been shown at Cartus Corporation, various Connecticut libraries, and Mercy by the Sea in Madison.

Her distinguished awards include the 2021 Connecticut Women Artists Juried Exhibition “Best in Show,” and second place awards in 2018 at RGA Juried Member Show and WAA Juried Member Show.

Several of her paintings were selected for the fall 2021 Showtime television series The Affair.

Shea earned a Bachelor of Science in Art Education from Southern Connecticut State University and completed graduate coursework, with Anna Audette and colorist Howard Fussiner, at Yale University.

Clare Gallery is within the Franciscan Center for Urban Ministry, 285 Church Street in Hartford. It is open Monday through Saturday, 9 am-4 pm; and Sunday, 9-11:30 am; visit SPSACT.org/clare2 or call 860-756-4034 for details.

There are two special events planned during the run of the exhibition: an in-person artist talk Sunday, April 23, at 1 pm; and a virtual panel discussion on Thursday, April 27, at 7 pm.

The Clare Gallery primarily features exhibitions that emphasize world religions or interfaith themes, as well as social justice themes, on either a global or local level.

Free parking is available directly across from the church, and the facility is handicapped accessible. Masks are recommended for entry.