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ANI KASTEN, MICHAEL ZELEHOSKI WORKS ON VIEW AT KASTEN FINE ART

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GREAT BARRINGTON, MASS. — Two ambitious solo exhibitions are on view at Kasten Fine Art August 17 through October 1. A reception with the artists will be on Saturday, August 18, from 5 to 7:30 pm.

Ani Kasten and Michael Zelehoski are two American artists with roots in the Berkshires, who are now gaining some national exposure after living in other countries and exhibiting their work outside the region. Kasten is a ceramic artist, and Zelehoski works in mixed media.

Kasten spent a good deal of her childhood in the Berkshires, but in 2000 she traveled to England where she apprenticed with British potter Rupert Spira. From 2001 to 2005, she lived and worked in Katmandu and Thimi, Nepal. During those years she introduced stoneware technology to Nepalese potters, and with her Nepalese colleagues she set up the first such facility in the country. She also created a range of designs for the Thimi potters that are now being exported worldwide.

In the past two years, Kasten has been working out of her studio in Oakland, Calif., and finds her inspiration along the rocky coastline of the Pacific and in the urban landscape by which she is surrounded. She begins all her work by throwing on a wheel, and the artist has said that she often works in families or groups, so she can continue to observe and develop a shape, cultivating harmony and beauty of form while throwing in repetition.

Zelehoski grew up in the Berkshires, attended the Rudolf Steiner School and Simon’s Rock College of Bard. He traveled to South America at the age of 20 and spent nearly six years pursuing his vocation as a young artist, including an apprenticeship with the late Chilean sculptor Felix Maruenda. Zelehoski returned to the Berkshires in 2006 and is currently working on upcoming exhibitions from his studio in Pittsfield, Mass.

His recent work includes abstract and figurative compositions created from old pieces of wood and furniture that have been worn and weathered to reveal layers of faded colors and textures. The artist seeks to save what he perceives as priceless remnants of the past, and at the same time he endeavors to cultivate a deeper and awareness of the intrinsic aesthetic value in these wooden surfaces by calling attention to them in his art.

“Old Man in Hat,” “Sleeping Girl” and “Girl Looking Back,” are just three of the figurative works in this exhibition. While some of this work has a photographic quality, the technique used by the artist is sculptural in nature and quite primitive. That is, Zelehoski literally carves the figure into the assembled wooden plane with gouges and then burns the surface of the carved wood into blackened shadows, adding layers of encaustic wax to build lighter tones that create a chiaroscuro effect.

Kasten Fine Art (formerly SKH Gallery) is inside the historic train station at 46 Castle Street. For information, www.kastenfineart.com or 413-528-3300.