Photography by Gregory W. Brown, September 5th – 28th

Landscape photography requires patience and a willingness to look and listen slowly. Imperfect Horizon is an unconventional collection of landscapes that highlight unusual perspectives and aspect ratios. Many include subtle or abstracted man-made elements, both in the images and in the techniques used to render the images. The images as a whole create a fragmented horizon-line — spanning time, place, and technique. The exhibit includes photographs shot with digital and film cameras.

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 5th, 5-8pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus

About Gregory W. Brown:
Gregory started taking photographs in his teens — shooting 35mm and developing and printing in his school’s darkroom. His interests shifted to music in the mid-’90s and he went on to become a composer and conductor (MM, DMA) with several CDs of his music currently available. The last several years have seen him return to photography as a balance to his musical pursuits. He shoots both digital and analog cameras in a variety of formats. Learn more about Gregory at: gregorywbrown.com

How old were you when you created your first artwork?
I was always making noise when I was a kid, so I think my first artwork would have been musical and very disorganized. I did a lot of photography in high school — developing the negatives and printing in the darkroom. That was really the first time I was creating anything that I would still stand by today and call ‘artwork.’

How has your style changed over the years?
I’m a terrible judge of my own style, so I really can’t say.

When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

Why did you choose your medium?
My sense of medium is extremely fluid, so I’m not sure I ever really choose. It’s more like the idea chooses the medium. I sometimes have ideas that I understand to be best rendered in a medium that I have no abilities in, so I just enjoy it in my head and then let it go, or try to share it with someone who has those skills.

What inspires you?
The big things grow out of very small moments or ideas. I get inspiration from a lot of different places, but it’s almost always the finite and narrow that lead me to the best results.

Where do you work?
Wherever I am.

What is your creative process like? How do you work?
I’m not much for keeping schedule. I’m constantly thinking about the projects I’m working on, but the hands-on work generally gets done whenever I feel moved to get at it — or based on a deadline.

What do you like about being an artist in the Pioneer Valley?
I love being surrounded by so many people who are similarly moved to create and share their creations. When I am working on landscapes the light is marvelous here. It’s no wonder that the area has been a home to landscape artists going back to the early 19th century and earlier.

What is your favorite piece that you’ve created?
I think the favorite thing of mine that I’ve created is a piece for choir called un/bodying/s, which is inspired by the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir. I had the joy of working with an amazing poet (Todd Hearon) and choir (The Crossing) to create something that speaks to the most human and intimate aspects of life as they relate to the elemental forces that shape our geography and economy. When Innova created the CD they used some Quabbin photos of mine (one of which is in the show) for the cover and liner art.

Paintings and drawings by Greta Gundersen, August 1st to 31st

Greta Gundersen was a prolific Belchertown-based artist who passed away in 2017. This exhibit is a selection of oil paintings and graphite drawings from her large body of work.

Greta was primarily a painter of abstract landscapes. She described them as “[hovering] between abstraction and representation.” Her works have an ethereal quality. The drawings have identifiable single subjects — bats, birds, bulbs of garlic — but they exist in a hazy liminal space. She captured the essence of her subjects and gave us delicate images that feel like dream visions preserved before they fade upon waking. Her paintings extend this dreamlike quality. There is no immediately discernible location, and often a simple title gives little clue, such as “Landscape #45” or simply “Untitled“. But these pieces draw us in, they speak to the non-verbal part of us, the places we can’t describe clearly but we know exist. These are transitional images that exist between what is and what might be.

“I strive to create a picture plane that does not admit to being a painting, to blur the border in between the air surrounding the work and the work itself, to create a place of enigma that people can stand in front of and enter into in whatever way they choose. A successful landscape painting is one that seems familiar yet not readily identifiable — is it sky, land, water, or something else altogether?”

These works are being made available by her husband Peter Lobdell so they can be seen and appreciated – to get her work out of storage and back out into the world. For this reason they will be priced at less than half their appraised value. Near the end of her life, a gallerist and art critic wrote to Greta, “Some people leave children behind them, but you will leave paintings. And they’re good paintings, works that will be able to make their way in the world when you’re not here.”

Opening Reception: Thursday, August 1st, 5-8pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus

Hear Greta Gundersen talk about her work in this wonderful video shared with us by Shoshona King.

About Greta Gundersen (1952-2017):
A native New Yorker of Norwegian descent, Greta Gundersen lived in New York City, California, Spain, and South America. From 1981-1990, she was the director of BACA Downtown, a nonprofit visual and performing arts center in Brooklyn, where she curated more than 80 exhibitions and nine years of theatrical programming, which earned her an OBIE “for keeping experimental theater alive and well in New York City.” In 1990 she became the Artistic Director of The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council at the World Trade Center. For over 10 years she served as a panelist and consultant with The Rockefeller Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., The Jerome Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The New York State Council on the Arts, The Jim Henson Foundation, among others, reviewing work by artists and organizations from around the country. She left New York City for western MA in 1995 to paint full time. She had been an Artist-in-Residence at the Millay Colony for the Arts in New York, and at Altos de Chavon in the Dominican Republic, and apprenticed with painters Miguel Arguello in Spain and Francisco Ruiz in Colombia. Her work was featured in numerous exhibitions in galleries and museums in the US and abroad including: Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, NY; Thornwood Gallery, Dallas, TX; Gerald Peters Gallery, Dallas, TX; Amsterdam’s, New York, NY; TNT Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; and Fair Oaks Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Learn more about Greta at: gretagundersen.com

Banner images:
“The Nascent Shift – AM”, oil on canvas, 20×20″, 2015 (detail)
“The Nascent Shift – Twilight”, oil on canvas, 20×20″, 2015
“The Nascent Shift – Night”, oil on canvas, 20×20″, 2015 (detail)

Etchings, woodcuts, watercolors, and an installation centered around themes of memory and temporary spaces by Easthampton artist Daniel Chiaccio, July 3rd to 27th

Daniel holds onto his memories through his artwork. Difficult times in his life often meant constructing new memories with themes of shelter and comfort and freedom, finding solace in temporary spaces. As a child, exploration and building things was his means of escapism — building forts in the woods for physical escape, and drawing imaginary places and worlds for mental escape. These early coping mechanisms continued into adulthood to grow into well-honed skills in woodworking and illustration, and a rich imagination. His artwork contains scenes ranging from fantastical cityscapes verging on science fiction to bucolic country cabins to snug cozy interiors. All a bit surreal, all empty of people – these spaces are for Daniel, or the viewer, to inhabit alone to find comfort and wonder.

Opening Reception: Thursday, July 11th, 5-8 pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus

About Daniel Chiaccio:
Daniel is an artist and printmaker and maker of things. Originally trained as an illustrator, he discovered printmaking by chance and now spends much of his creative time in the print studio. He has a deep love for building and tinkering and making things – the process and working with his hands is just as satisfying as the end results of his work. When he’s not making art, Daniel works as a framer and printmaking studio monitor. He has a BFA in Illustration from the New Hampshire Institute of Art, and currently resides in Easthampton with his cat, Quimby.

Banner image: detail from Standpoint, etching with aquatint

Paintings by Brooklyn artist Isaiah Gulino, June 6th to 29th.

Isaiah Gulino works in oil paint and mixed media combining influences from past and present while reflecting multiple psychological meanings into a singular time and place. Within this body of distorted imagery, Gulino integrates his upbringing in the Northeastern United States with his travels to South America, establishing both personal and foreign connections to architecture, religion, and celebration. His work relays open-ended narratives through disrupted forms of reality, which place sentimental value on memories frozen in time.

Opening Reception: Friday, June 7th, 6:30-8:30pm

About Isaiah Gulino:
Gulino is interested in perception and culture, and continues to seek unity in opposition through both representational and abstract painting simultaneously. This connection appears within the landscape-based subject as well: forming an active disruption of the synthetic world by natural forces. His work questions sustainability, as architecture and figures are fragmented and disintegrating on the surface of the picture. He grew up in the farming communities of upstate New York, studied painting in New Hampshire, and now lives and works in New York City. A cumulative range of stimuli continues to drive his work in diverse directions unique to his individual perception and human experience. isaiah-gulino.com

How old were you when you created your first artwork?
I think around 4-5 years old I had made some drawings and paintings that my family and teachers applauded. We were always doing crafts or pottery at summer workshops or in pre-school. I didn’t consider them “art” but it was very exciting to experiment and engage in something of purpose.

How has your style changed over the years?
My style has been pretty consistent since finishing my BFA, however it has matured in many ways. There is more emphasis on color mixing; for example neutralizing complimentary hues to find correct temperatures of shadows. This helps to place unconventional layering techniques into a conceivable space.

When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
My parents have always been very creative, my Mom always shared her love for painting, pottery, and writing with me. While my Dad is a very dedicated musician. I envied that and wanted to find my own creative voice and vision.

Why did you choose your medium?
I saw a lot of my classmates at New Hampshire Institute of Art who were very fluid with oil paint, achieving effects I wasn’t able to in acrylic. Mainly luminosity, as seen in historical renaissance work and contemporary realism. The spray paint and stenciling goes back to street art which I was very attracted to as a teenager.

What inspires you?
Originally nature and finding solitude in natural environments. Alongside traditional influence from landscape painters like JMW Turner or John Constable. Although living in New York City has introduced me to more travel and culture, where I’ve found a deeper inspiration from people and connection to humanity.

Where do you work?
I work in the art industry packing, crating and shipping valuable works from the worlds top artists. Working first hand and seeing the work of painters I’ve admired my whole life has definitely pushed me to want to develop a stronger sense of professionalism. I’ve had studio spaces in different warehouses in Brooklyn, but recently I have developed a studio in my own apartment.

What is your creative process like? How do you work?
My process usually begins with drawing and getting a physical understanding of space. Most time I enjoy beginning with technical line drawings over abstract grounds or color fields and then rendering on top with oil and introducing more color. Usually selecting and prioritizing different shapes or planes at varying levels of emphasis; while leaving other areas unfinished for previous layers to peek through on the surface. Layering is important to me and my time spent doing printmaking definitely instilled a more strategic approach to painting in so many ways.

Which artists do you admire?
Childe Hassam, Eduard Vuillard, Mancini, Pasini and Sargent definitely informed my historical basis. Richard Diebenkorn has always been a favorite. While Antonio Lopez Garcia, Gerhard Richter, Jenny Saville, Dana Schutz, Adrian Ghenie and David Hockney help me bridge the gap into more contemporary painting. The list could really go on …. a lot of people reference Edward Hopper while looking at my work.

What is your favorite piece that you’ve created?
I did a piece a couple years back of a San Francisco scene that I feel like really balanced a technical understanding with more expressive marks. It seemed to be successful in capturing the psychological essence more so than the literal visual interpretation.

Any advice to young or emerging artists?
Stay diligent even when things get hopeless. Always value personal growth no matter how small; rather than comparing yourself to others or worrying about what other people think about your work. Find influence in historical works and borrow from it, rather than emulating some other artist working in the same time period as you. Remember that Individuality and uniqueness can go further than technical ability. Be true to yourself!

Banner image: detail from Nuestra Senora La Luz (Our Lady of Light), oil and spray paint on panel

Large-scale oil paintings by Springfield artist Andrae Green, May 2nd to June 1st.

Backscatter is a diffuse reflection due to scattering, as opposed to specular reflection as from a mirror.

Andrae’s work uses painting as an exploration to delve into the unquantifiable internalized senses which we use to perceive the world: intuition, clairvoyance, and other feelings that lie outside the physical realm. Fragility and impermanence are a constant in three-dimensional reality, and these works show those very slippages that occur due to interruptions by the metaphysical world. This speaks to our current age, where representation and reality can be interchangeable and physicality can be fleeting. History and fantasy can also be interchangeable and used to reinvent our identities. Andrae is particularly interested in how legacies of the Middle Passage and slavery can be re-imagined to fantasize alternate dimensions and multiple storylines that may not be in history books.

Opening Reception: Thursday, May 2nd, 5-8pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus.

About Andrae Green:
Andrae is a painter whose work explores the nuances of the collective consciousness that has been shaped by time, the sea, and the Middle Passage. Green was born in Kingston, Jamaica. In 2006, he was awarded a grant sponsored by the Jamaican government and the Chase Fund to obtain his MFA in Painting at the New York Academy of Art. In 2011, he was awarded a residency at the CAC Troy, NY. In 2012, he was one of two artists chosen to represent Jamaica in the Beijing Biennale. In 2013, 2015, and 2017, Green was selected as a part of the American delegation that represented the US at the Salon de Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, France. His paintings have been shown in the US, Jamaica, Canada, China, and France, and are in private collections around the world. He lives and works in Springfield with his wife, artist Priya Nadkarni.

How old were you when you created your first artwork?
That’s an interesting question. I started painting very late, in my twenties when I went to undergrad at the Edna Manley College of Art in Jamaica. Before that I would only draw or use colored pencils. I started drawing very early, maybe at age three. I cant remember a time when I was never drawing. I used to draw from comic books, spider man especially, this sparked my interest in the human figure.

How has your style changed over the years?
My earlier work was very influenced by my interest in comic book illustrations and impressionist paintings. I gave myself very narrow parameters in which to play within. Now the content that I want to discourse on is broader so I need a technique which can lend itself to such.

When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
I don’t think that’s easy to know. The question lends itself to make one answer in a way that is devoid of agency. Like anyone else I had artistic tendencies, and these tendencies lead me to where I am now. But I had to decide and it’s the decision that is the hardest to give into. So I’ll say this, that I made a decision to give into in my twenties.

Why did you choose your medium?
I started with acrylics in undergrad but switched to oils when I realised that all the great masters past and present have painted with it. I have never looked back.

What inspires you?
Everything. But mostly painting, movies and current events.

Where do you work?
At home.

What is your creative process like? How do you work?
I’ll tell you when I figure that one out. Sometimes I’ll have a clear picture in my head. Another time I’ll have a feeling of some thing that I need to say.

What do you like about being an artist in the valley?
Hmm. There are a lot of opportunities if you know where to look.

Which artists do you admire?
Wow thats a long list. First off, my wife Priya Green is awesome. Then it’s my teacher Vincent Disiderio. After that it’s the old masters Michelangelo, Caravaggio then it’s the contemporaries Gerhard Richter, Neo Rauch, Ruprecht Von Kaufmann, Phil Hale, and many more. The list keeps growing!

What is your favorite piece that you’ve created?
Maybe Obwa Coocoo, I did that one in 2010. Thats when I found my stride.

Any advice to young or emerging artists?
Work hard and never give up no matter what. Life always rewards hard work.

Banner image: detail from Stoning Whales – either fish or cut bait, 84×88.5″, oil on canvas, 2016

Glass mosaics created via the indirect method by Amherst artist Isabel Margolin.

Isabel’s most successful designs have come to her while dreaming: “I see the mosaic completed, the colors simple and true; the pattern a perfect rhyme. The next day I embark on recreating this vision, remaining as close to the design as possible. Even with all my good intentions to remain true to my dream, on the second or third day of work all hell breaks loose and the pattern has taken a life of its own. It is as though I am having a conversation with the mosaic and I no longer solely control the design. In the end, my dream gave me the impetus to start the process, but the actual process led me to interpret my dream in an entirely new way.”

Opening Reception: Thursday, April 4th, 5-8pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus.

Meet the Artist & Mosaic Demo: Saturday, April 13th, 4:30-6:30pm – Isabel will discuss and demonstrate her mosaic process and create a piece that everyone can contribute to.

About Isabel Margolin:
Raised in beautiful northern California, Isabel currently resides in Amherst. In the spring of 2009 she took her first course in mosaics, one that focused on the indirect method, a technique that she has employed ever since. It is through a certain controlled randomness, a willingness to cede one’s expectations to gravitational forces and the power of sticky tape that she applies the indirect technique to expand the boundaries of this art form. It is a process of chance, choice, and discovery. isabelmargolinmosaics.com

Recent large-scale pastels by Amherst artist Robert Dow.

Opening Reception: Thursday, February 7th, 5-8pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus.

Amanda Barrow, Janine Norton, and Lynn Sisler reflect and respond to the current status and state of the waterways in our environment, with a focus on conservation. Responding to the premise “If Water Could Speak”, each artist has shaped her individual vision using her choice of medium: painting, photography, and monotype printing.

Barrow, Norton, and Sisler will share the experience, thoughts, and process of making the works during a panel discussion in the gallery on Saturday, November 10th, 4-5:15pm. The event is free and open to the community. The artists intend to motivate the audience with a concrete call-to-action, inspiring and sending the them back out into the world with hope and visions of beauty.

Opening Reception: Thursday, November 1st, 5-8pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus.

Panel Discussion: Saturday, November 10th, 4-5:15pm

The panel discussion event is funded by the Amherst Local Cultural Council and the Mass Cultural Council.

About the artists:

Amanda Barrow has been a professional visual artist since 1986. She has received numerous fellowships, including: a Fulbright research grant, and Mass Cultural and Local Cultural Council awards. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally and has presented countless artist talks. Amanda’s work presents a broad range of abstractions that utilize nature, architecture, and the human body as primary sources of inspiration. www.amandabarrow.net

Janine Norton has been a photographer since 1984. She studied at Art Center College of Design in CA, and was a partner of Hing/Norton NYC, serving corporate clients for national advertising campaigns. She has taught, guest lectured, and exhibited her images in solo and group shows regionally since 2002. www.janinenorton.com

Lynn Sisler is a painter who works predominantly in layers of mixed media, which gives a spiritual and historical feel to her visual stories featuring unusual animals. She completed a BFA in painting and a minor in Art History from Northern Illinois University in 1991, and has exhibited her work in multiple group shows and solo exhibitions nationally since 1988. Currently, Lynn works as a professional freelance artist and art educator for children. www.lynnsisler.com