Three Artists Sharing Space At Carole Peck’s Gallery

WOODBURY — Carole Peck’s Good News Café & Gallery has opened what will be the final shows of the calendar year. On view until January 7 are “Wild,” featuring paintings by Nancy Moore and pottery by Newtown resident Marcia Taylor, and “Roosters,” a collection of paintings by Susan Prentice.

Simsbury painter and graphic designer Susan Prentice has chosen Good News Cafe & Gallery to unveil her new series of oil paintings. Her exhibition reveals the many faces and profiles of the barnyard royalty.

A graduate of Syracuse University’s School of Visual and Performing Arts and the former award-winning art director at Keiler Advertising in Farmington, Ms Prentice continues to pursue an active career in graphic design, art direction, print production, illustration and photography as a free-lance contractor in marketing communications.

Ms Prentice embarked on a second professional journey in 2002 when she began to create oil paintings on canvas, as well as a more limited number of watercolor works. Over the past five years, her paintings have been featured in juried shows sponsored by West Hartford Art League and Farmington Valley Art Center, as well as exhibitions at Henry James Gallery in Simsbury, New Britain Museum and the University of Connecticut Health Center. She also has participated as a Visiting Artist on the State of Connecticut’s ConneCTKids.com Web site.

Her current show at Good News Cafe represents a series of full-figure and profile paintings of a wide diversity of rooster types. Her 2006 and 2007 works are characterized by the richly textured plumage and bright hues of her subjects, set against simple abstract backgrounds. To emphasize the continuity and cohesiveness of the series, Ms Prentice chose standard painting dimensions of 26-inches square for the full-profile images, and 12-inches square for the rooster profiles.

Ridgefield painter Nancy Moore and Newtown ceramic artist Marcia Taylor celebrate the serendipitous discovery of their shared artistic vision of the natural world in their new exhibition, simply called “Wild.”

Ms Moore and Ms Taylor, who have previously staged solo exhibitions at Good News Cafe, were unaware that they were traveling parallel paths in their artistic development and studies of the natural world until they found themselves standing side by side as winners of Best of Show awards at the annual arts festival sponsored by the Danbury-based Regional Hospice of Western Connecticut.

“Our love for the world of nature and the use of natural materials made us fast companions,” Ms Moore recalled. “Our work reflects our passion for capturing both the fragility and the strength of the planet’s wonders.”

Ms Moore said she and Ms Taylor believe their current joint exhibition will enhance the appreciation and strengthen the impact of their works by emphasizing how completely they complement each other.

“Placing the pottery together with the paintings is like completing each other’s artistic sentences,” said Ms Moore. “Our exhibition at Good News is the meeting of two pairs of hands with a like mind.”

A former editor at Yale University Press, Nancy Moore has maintained a delicate balance between her dual professions as an editor and as an artist since the purchase of a box of crayons in 1998 inspired her to return to painting. She attempted her first pen-and-ink drawings and paintings more than two decades earlier as a college student under the guidance of art professor George Chaplin, but it took “a deluxe 96-pack of Crayolas” to reawaken her artistic passion.

“I opened the lid and the scent transported me to the cool green linoleum floor of my childhood playroom where I spent hours drawing,” she remarked. “The smell and feel of those crayons, coupled with my reverence for nature, led me to paint my first chameleon. I titled it ‘Self-Portrait,’ because women in particular change their colors often to fill many different roles.”

Through her paintings and the original words of prose she composes for many of her pieces, she said she seeks to “speak to the viewer about the fragility of both the natural environment and human relationships.”

Among the favorite subjects of her paintings are the reptiles, birds, insects and other natural creatures that composed the “ever-shifting menagerie” featured in her recent yearlong solo exhibition at the Environmental Sciences Center, affiliated with the Peabody Museum at Yale University. Her paintings and giclée prints of the natural world have become part of private collections from California to Vermont.

Ms Moore’s artistic tools in painting include watercolor, crayon, colored pencil and graphite. She is a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists and the Ridgefield Guild of Artists. She expects to continue an active schedule of exhibitions in 2008, with shows currently planned for the New Canaan Library gallery and the River Street Gallery in New Haven.

Marcia Taylor, a professional potter specializing in hand-built and thrown sculptural pieces reflecting themes inspired by nature, pursues her artistic work in ceramics at her studio in Newtown. Winner of Best of Show awards at the Regional Hospice Arts Festival for two consecutive years and featured artist at the 2007 festival, she shows widely at galleries across New England and has earned numerous honors at juried exhibitions.

She initially trained as a silversmith and enamellist, pursuing art studies at Syracuse and Hofstra universities, Silvermine School of Art and Brookfield Craft Center.

“But after taking a pottery course just for fun, I fell in love with clay,” she explained.

“The earth on my hands connects my imagination with the myriad magical creatures and plans I have discovered while kayaking or hiking — they come home in my mind and go on a pot,” she observed. “I am delighted when someone holds one of my pots, turns it around in their hands and smiles. I consider my creativity a gift and strive to remain forever grateful and teachable, remembering that my inspiration is only an interpretation of the already existing natural world.”

Recently Ms Taylor collaborated with wood turner Chris Cushman in creation of a series of unique boxes displaying the handiwork of their crafts. The current exhibition features several of Mr Cushman’s elegant boxes turned from exotic woods, with Ms Taylor’s pottery providing the ceramic lids decorated with foliage, flowers or insects.

Ms Taylor traces her artistic focus on the natural world to her childhood in northern New York State.

“As a child, I explored the fields and woods for many hours, upending rocks, wading in streams and ponds, always amazed at the small wonders and hidden surprises of nature,” she recalled. “That same love of the natural world has followed me into adulthood and been reflected in my lifestyle as well as my creative works.”