Art In The Mall Includes Area Artists

By Nancy K. Crevier

The Housatonic Valley Cultural Alliance (HVCA), in collaboration with local art groups, businesses, and community leaders, presents its first Juried Fine Art Exhibition, through October 15, in the Center Court of the Danbury Fair Mall. The show features the art of nearly 50 area artists, including four from Newtown and Sandy Hook, all of which are available for purchase.

“This is exciting,” said HVCA board member Joanne Hunter. “For a portion of artists, it is their first show.”

The show opened Friday, October 2, with a gala reception for the artists, during which the Best of Show Awards were given to artists in a variety of categories.

Newtown artist Jill Baimel was selected to receive the Best of Show for Photography for her entry, “Covered Bridge of Stanislaus County,” a black and white photograph taken in 1994. “Stanislaus County is in north central California near Modesto. This bridge, the Knights Ferry Bridge, is in a state park just outside of Modesto. At around 350 feet, it’s the longest covered bridge in California and I believe it’s also the longest one west of the Mississippi. It was built around 1863 and it just takes your breath away when you see it in person,” said Ms Baimel. “I used a 4x5 Omega View camera — it looks like something from the 19th Century. It’s a large camera that sits on a tripod and it looks like an accordion. You have to put a sheet over your head and look through the back,” she said.

Ms Baimel, a Newtown resident, has works included in the 2005 Newtown Tercentennial photographic essay Newtown 2005: The Way We Are After 300 Years by Justin Scott, and was also the cover artist for A Mosaic of Newtown History by Daniel Cruson. The photographic collage of Newtown images used for Mr Cruson’s book was also developed into a poster sold during the Newtown Tercentennial celebration.

Ms Baimel studied at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, Calif., and received a second BA in industrial photography and color technology. She is a member of the Professional Photographers of America, the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, and the Flagpole Photographers of Newtown. She currently works as a freelance photographer devoting much of her time to State Art, a collection of photographs of state names taken county by county throughout each state. The State Art concept was applied to Newtown for the poster photo collage.

Her works have appeared in The Best of College Photography, The Santa Barbara News Press, and Country Discoveries magazines.

The Best of Show for Mixed Media Award went to 2005 NHS graduate Jessica Gaddis for her sculpture on canvas piece. A 2009 graduate of SUNY New Paltz with a BFA in painting and drawing, her works are inspired by the natural world, said Ms Gaddis. “The phenomena of life should be an inspiration to us all. I play with micro/macro, asking the viewer to take a closer look at things, as well as take a step back,” she said.

“My more recent series, ‘salmon-nilla,’ is related to NASA’s space exploration of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Scientists had to redefine the definition of life when they discovered creatures living in caves without sunlight. ‘Salmo-nilla’ is my body of work where I have ‘traveled’ to Titan and gathered my own research of the environment and brought my findings back to earth to share. Really, I’m an artist who wishes I was a scientist,” Ms Gaddis said.

Ms Gaddis has shown her work in other galleries and shows in the region, and is scheduled for a solo show at Danbury City Hall, as well as at the Blue Z Coffee House in Newtown in December.

Newtown artist Joanne S. Conant produces enamels and jewelry, using techniques that include cloisonné, piqué a jour, champlevé, grisaille, and Limoges. She is a metalsmith, jeweler, and painter.

Ms Conant holds a commercial arts degree from Minneapolis Technical Institute and apprenticed with enamellist Margaret Seeler from 1975 to 1996. She is currently the enameling studio manager at Brookfield Craft Center.

The oil painting on display at the Danbury Fair Mall, “Seaside,” was inspired while in Costa Rica “where I spent hours watching the waves come in to shore,” said Ms Conant.

Her pieces appear in Enamels, Enameling, Enamelists by Glenice Lesley Matthews, Enamel Medium for Fine Art by Margaret Seeler, and The Artists Illustrated Encyclopedia, by Phil Metzger. She has received numerous award in national and international shows.

A Newtown resident for the past 15 years, Robert Karnoff has been a full-time artist since 2000, when he sold his engineering business. His interest in photography began when he left home to see the world at the age of 14. He spent many years living and traveling around the planet, including Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Pacific. Fluent in a number of languages, Mr Karnoff has lived with people as varied as the Budja in the Congo and villagers in outlying islands in Fiji.

His entry to the HVCA exhibit, “The Boys Are Back In Town,” is of two Yemeni tribesmen taken in northern Yemen.

Mr Karnoff has been invited to hang a solo show at the Danbury City Hall in the near future.

The HVCA Juried Fine Art Exhibition is supported by the Danbury Chamber of Commerce and Andrea Gartner of Danbury’s City Center. The exhibition will culminate Thursday, October 15, with a Business Supports the Arts Awards Breakfast at the Ethan Allen Inn in Danbury.