Different Perspectives To Be Explored In New Mattatuck Exhibition

WATERBURY — The Mattatuck Museum Arts and History Center will open a new exhibition, “Other Worlds: Fact and Fiction,” on June 22 as part of Matrix: The Josephine McMillen and Lois Livingston McMillen Arts and Education Program.

Presented biannually, Matrix has three goals: to support excellence in the visual arts, to sustain the efforts of talented, aspiring women artists early in their careers, and to advance the museum’s role in convening a congenial and stimulating cultural community to the benefit of the region.

“Other Worlds: Fact and Fiction” will examine different perspectives and approaches toward the unseen, the overlooked and the fantastic through approximately thirty paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints and drawings. Artists selected for this exhibition include Catherine Doocy of Windsor, Ann Holley of Bridgeport, Mary Mattingly originally from Rockville, Karen Ruenitz of Ridgefield, and Kate Ten Ecyk of Middletown.

Catherine Doocy paints recognizable but non-site specific landscapes. Low horizons and wide skies characterize much of her work. While oil painting is her primary medium, charcoal is her first love for she enjoys the gesture of drawing, and drawing appears as an additional structural element in some of her recent works. Much of her painting process is intuitive; paintings are not planned in advance, she says, but evolve.

Ann Holley’s work focuses on identity, particularly uniqueness. She looks at different parts of the body as elements of portraiture and then makes plaster casts directly from the body, isolating anything from fingers to navels. When she isolates body parts, Ms Holley is experimenting with the shell of personality.

Photographer Mary Mattingly has always been environmentally and politically concerned in her life and her art. In her fictional vision of the future, survivors of an earth reshaped by environmental catastrophe return to a primal state. The ability of these survivors to adapt and build a new society is documented in a narrative showing how they live, travel and communicate. In addition to photographs and a video about the future, Ms Mattingly will create a sculpture especially for this exhibition

Karen Ruenitz makes intricate pencil drawings of faceless mannequins stressing the clothing, both high fashion and street smart. The wearer’s character is intentionally left as a mystery, the only clues to identity are the particular styles of dress; viewers create the persona to match the style and thus confront perceptions established by society. In her work Ruenitz highlights the power of dress as a communicator of the elements of identity, from race to cultural affiliation.

Kate Ten Ecyk’s work grew from a fascination with parasites and the context of the parasite-host relationship. Magnifying microscopic views of the bugs that she gets from a scientific supply company, Ms Ten Eyck creates etchings that reveal both the beauty and the repulsive qualities of fleas and ticks. Words and text are incorporated in some of the works; reading it requires the viewer to establish a close-up study of these usually unseen creatures.

The Matrix program was established by Russell McMillen to recognize the best work of young women artists. The program honors Josephine McMillen and Lois Livingston McMillen, his wife and daughter, respectively. Josephine McMillen was a generous and understanding supporter of the Mattatuck Museum and worked actively on its behalf. Lois Livingston McMillen was an artist in the process of shaping a personal expression. Matrix pays homage to these two creative women who were dedicated to promoting artists and art institutions.

The artists will be honored during an opening reception on Thursday, June 21, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm; the public is invited to view the exhibition and meet the artists that evening. The exhibition will continue through August 12.

The Mattatuck Museum is at 144 West Main Street, with convenient parking space directly behind the museum on Park Place. For more information, call 203-753-0381 extension 10 or visit the museum’s website, MattatuckMuseum.org.