Silvermine Has Opened Its Annual

New Members’ Exhibition

NEW CANAAN — Works by 22 newly elected members of Silvermine Guild of Artists are being showcased in the Annual New Members Show at the Silvermine Galleries through February 6. A concurrent One Person Exhibition, “Vertical Visions” will feature mixed media on wood by Constance Kiermaier of Westport. The Director’s Choice exhibit is “Line Dance,” a collection of drawings by David Burke of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Incorporated in 1924, the Guild has always selected its members by jury. Each year a jury of artist peers elects new members on the basis of six works submitted. In 2004, there were eight artists working in mixed media, the largest category. This year five artists were selected in the painting and drawing categories, four are printmakers, three are sculptors, and there is a photographer and a fiber artist.

Local artists elected to the Guild are Martha Bloom, mixed media, and Nathaniel Gibbons, photography, both of Westport; Cecilia Fradet, drawing, and Valerie de Montvallon, mixed media, both of Weston; Woodfin Wood, mixed media, and Karen Sorenson, printmaking, both of Wilton; Gloria Santoyo Ruenitz of Ridgefield, mixed media; Margaret Roleke of Redding, sculpture; Tina Blackburn of Fairfield, printmaking; Dalton Ghetti of Bridgeport, sculpture; Karen Kalkstein, mixed media, and Don Axleroad, printmaking, both of Stamford.

Other Connecticut artists elected for 2004 are Peggy Dembicer of Avon, mixed media; Hyun Joo Jung and Gerald Saladyga, both painters from New Haven; Dean Fisher of Milford, drawing; Jeannie Thomma of Oxford, fiber art; and Deborah Waimon of New Milford, printmaking.

Also elected was Susan Halls, a sculptor from Easthampton, Mass.

New York artists include Arle Sklar-Weinstein of Hastings on Hudson, mixed media; Karin Bartimole of New Rochelle, mixed media; and Richard Wegenroth of New York City, drawing.

For her unique exhibition “Vertical Versions,” Constance Kiermaier chose a simple descriptive title for a body of work that is deceptively complex. Working worked within the narrow confines of a vertical wooden format, her aim is “to suggest slices of a much wider world.”

She says: “These wooden planks stand as sentinels to all aspects of art that have engaged my interest over the years: my fascination for found art, collage, assemblage and the multiple techniques and materials involved … it’s like a retrospective of my own small place in the history of art.”

One work, “Found Things Evolved,” incorporates assemblage, drawing, collage of paper on wood, painting, and finally an encaustic incorporating photos of the assemblage.

The exhibit also includes paintings she has made over the years in the style of artists she liked which are alternated with slices of her own work.

“The constant is my abiding challenge to maintain the integrity of the wood as I make art an integral part of its surface,” says the artist. “The rigidity of the plank, coupled with its maneuverability, make leaning it against the wall a natural placement. The planks are interchangeable to provide, in a sense, ‘A Moveable Feast.’”

David Burke’s exhibit, “Line Dance,” consists of a video installation and drawings. His most recent work includes a series of ongoing drawings involving fatherhood. In his non-objective visions of the placenta, the lines represent increments of fetal development through the trimester.

“One cannot determine where the lines begin or end, this creates a suspense of spatial tension,” says Mr Burke. “By using etching techniques, I am concerned with the decorative patterns that are created and the tension between form and surface.” 

Silvermine Galleries are at 1037 Silvermine Road in New Canaan, and are open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am to 5 pm, and Sunday from 1 to 5 pm. For further information call 203-966-9700.