Females on the Fringe Exhibit: Review, Running at the Corscaden Barn

Martha Corscaden has brought a compelling, dynamic show to the Corscaden Barn this summer with Females on the Fringe. The exhibit, which runs until July 25^th in Keene Valley, features the work of seven cutting-edge female artists, whose work revolves around themes of nature. By nature, we mean loose interpretation, for within the confines of this charming and funky barn turned gallery is an exhibit that contains a variety of abstract and atypical works, ranging from mixed-media collages to photolithography, archetypal paintings and ceramics.

The show is divided into three sections, beginning in the main room on the Barn’s first floor; here the works of Amy Fennelly, Lana Lucas and Janet Millstein are displayed. Moving to a room on the left is Alice K. Boardman’s photography. And upstairs on the top floor, which once served as beloved Adirondack painter Vry Roussin’s studio (and still contains the paint drippings to prove it), is the work of Stephanie DeManuelle, Cynthia Gallagher and Julia Gronski.

Lana Lucas’s desire to return to the Barn after a showing in 2005 was the impetus for this summer’s exhibit. Lucas, an accomplished artist whose works have been seen throughout New York City, uses watercolors to evoke vivid imagery in her paintings, where nature is often seen overcoming and invading its own and human figures. To look closely at Lucas’s paintings is to delve into a world filled with dark psychology and erotic imagery, but this is a world you will immensely enjoy. Her figures are often earthy archetypes, lending themselves to a storytelling quality. Some have fairytale attributes, but in Lucas’s paintings, what’s recalled are not your present-day, politically correct, childproof tales, rather, Lucas draws on their original, more violent nature.

Lucas’s choice of using the delicate medium of watercolors juxtaposes with her works’ animalistic elements. And in the paintings where human figures are absent, the power of nature becomes all the more apparent, sometimes even terrifying, as can be seen in the work, “Destined to Live.”

Here, a large bird delves into a wide open flower, whose buds are on the verge of dying; on the ground beneath it lies a sinewy web of repulsive roots. The flower’s leaves are displayed to evoke a sexual waiting—the flower is ready to receive; the horizon, where the bird descends from, is filled with bright, lucid colors, as the bird, powerful and virile, plunges down. In addition to its sensual storyline, the painting also portrays a dying earth, and in many of her works, Lucas uses forms that recall images from times past—times and religions where the earth was largely respected and played a significant and powerful role.

–Monica Sirignano is Co-Publisher of The Free George.

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On the Fringe in Keene Valley

Art and innovation go hand-in-hand this summer at the Females on the Fringe show at Corscaden Barn. The show, which runs July 2nd- 25th in Keene Valley, features the work of seven cutting-edge female artists, who hail from the Adirondacks and New York City, and contains a variety of abstract and atypical works from mixed-media collages to photolithography, archetypal paintings and ceramics.

The list of accomplished ladies here is quite impressive, beginning with Russian-born painter, Lana Lucas. You may remember Lucas, as she had a show at Corscaden Barn in 2005. In fact, her desire to return to the gallery served as the catalyst for this summer’s exhibit. Lucas’s hypnotic watercolors mix a dark psychology with archetypal imagery, and her work has been called both “exhilarating…and frightening.” When she’s not showing her work in the Adirondacks, Lucas is out making headlines across New York City, her permanent residence, and adding a fresh and quirky perspective to the city’s art scene.

Stephanie DeManuelle is another NYC-based artist appearing, whose works as well you might recognize, as she maintains a studio in Keene Valley and lists the primeval forests of the area as a major inspiration for her work. Combining natural elements, like shapes found in roots, driftwoods and shells, DeManuelle uses layers with what she terms a continuous drawing process, alternating stroke, scale, line and mass, until what evolves is a unique, distinct abstract painting that’s turbulent yet tempered by her use of muted colors. Her collages hold a similar aesthetic, with the use of delicate and earth-toned materials combining into vivid yet feminine shapes, both abstract and reminiscent of nature. DeManuelle is also the Chair of the Fine Arts Department at FIT, where she’s taught for almost thirty years.

These are only a taste of the diverse, edgy works you’ll find incorporated here. Other exhibitors include Cynthia Gallagher, Amy Fennelly and Alice Boardman, who each present a series of mixed-media collages; Janet Millstein, who uses the Adirondacks as a backdrop for her ethereal photolithography; and Julia Gronski, whose known as well throughout the Adirondacks for her visceral use of ceramics. All of these artists deserve a good amount of attention, as all bring a unique vision to the show.

The cutting-edge aesthetic of this exhibit, and the fact that it revolves around established, as well as up-and-coming female artists, isn’t all that surprising, when you consider the background of Corscaden Barn.

Corscaden Barn, whose mission is to provide a sanctuary where artists can just be artists, was founded in 1971 by two women, Vryling Corscaden and her painter-daughter, Vry Roussin. The gallery was originally established as a place to show the elder Corscaden’s antiques as well as Roussin’s (a beloved figure in the Adirondacks, and particularly Keene Valley) paintings. In 2004, with the death of Vry Roussin, her sister, Martha Corscaden took over the space and transformed it into an exhibiting gallery, which has over the years risen to a state of international acclaim. Corscaden credits the selection of artists to her intuition, as well as a desire to host works of both talented and educated artists, regardless of their status in the art world.

The Females on the Fringe exhibit runs through July 25^th and can be viewed on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 5pm, and other hours by appointment. To find out more about the exhibit and the Corscaden Barn, visit www.kvartbarn.com

–Monica Sirignano is Co-Publisher of The Free George.

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"Females on the Fringe": A diverse, edgy exhibit

All-female exhibition opens summer season for Corscaden Barn

http://pressrepublican.com/0500_what_to_do/x1385495737/-Females-on-the-Fringe-A-diverse-edgy-exhibit

 

By ROBIN CAUDELL Staff Writer

KEENE VALLEY — Martha Corscaden's "Females on the Fringe" is the inaugural summer exhibition at the Corscaden Barn in Keene Valley.
The she-thing show rocks works by Alice Boardman, Stephanie DeManuelle, Amy Fennelly, Cynthia Gallagher, Julia Gronksi, Lana Lucas and Janet Millstein.
"Most of them have been here at different times over the last few years," Corscaden said. "When I was thinking about putting this show together, they struck me as an interesting, diverse but edgy group. I liked the idea of having an all-women show. Usually, I'm not into that kind of thing, but they're all complex. I wanted to create a sanctuary where women could come and do what they really wanted to do."

'FINGERPLAY'

Stephanie DeManuelle departed from her usual heavy, encrusted, semi-abstract paintings from nature and assembled collages from her cache. After a well-received one-person show in New York City, she wanted to do something materially light.
"I had done collages before," said DeManuelle, who is the chair of the Fine Art Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology. "They were a lot like my paintings. I did layers, layers and layers."
She has fringed into airy fabric collages made from beautiful ripped silk, lace and drawing paper.
"They're very minimal. I was really delighted. It was just a way of design thinking. This is big. This is little. This is warmish. This is cool. I used some thread. These are things I saved that I was drawn to. I had no idea how I would eventually use it."
Corscaden titled the works, "Fingerplay."
"There are six of them," DeManuelle said. "I hope they're visually pleasurable and give some kind of visual delight. All the elements are there. They are really in a different form. It's almost like sharing a private thought in a way. They're very fragile."
The arrangement of Cynthia Gallagher's installation was up in the air as of this writing but she will rework her notebook made with watercolor, pencil and collage.
"Sometimes, I might have more of one than the other but those are the materials," said Gallagher, who is a Fashion Institute colleague of DeManuelle's. "I'm still working. I still have some pieces just made of fabric. I have small or irregular-shaped watercolors on the wall. They're abstract."
Gallagher was influenced by three trips to India.
"By the colors there, the patterns, the light and surfaces," she said. "That's where they came from."

TORN-PAPER SOULS

Janet Millstein's lithograph "12975" is a boarded-up Tiffany-blue house covered with vines that haunted her.
"A beautiful wreck," said the artist, who studied illustration at Parsons. "I was so intrigued by it. It looked like a house that was beautiful once. Everything in the Adirondacks — a building, mountain or tree — has been a spectator to things that we don't necessarily see. These objects, they watch us, and they see things differently. They may even, sometimes, judge us. I love that this house is standing there — 'I'm still here.' Maybe, someone will claim it again. I just try to capture these things the way they are. I want to give them a life again or a permanent record in case it changes and isn't there."
Millstein's works are lyrically unsettling, as are Lana Lucas's watercolor on paper from her series "The Venus Trap," which exhibited in Manhattan. Two less-sinister, recent works are "Under the Sea" and "If the Stars Were Mine." The "Venus Trap" series includes "White Trumpet," "Deadly Habits" and "Island of Lost Desire."
"It's a carnivorous plant," said the Russian-born Lucas, who also studies clay sculpture at the Bridgeview School of Fine Arts in New York City. "I love the idea that the flowers are very beautiful but very dangerous."
Amy Fennelly's paper collages are also deceptive. From afar, they look like landscape paintings. Upon close examination, works such as "Three Pines," "Spring Snow" and "Swimmers" reveal their torn-paper souls. Trained as a painter, she likes to sift through Smithsonian and Architectural Digest for materials.
"I paint with paper instead of paint," said Fennelly, a Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. "Some are allegorical. I work on the theme: interior scenes with windows and doors open to nature. That's my thing — showing the man-made world compared to the natural world. I use a lot of symbolism."
An art history minor, she fuses art, religion and architecture. Her landscapes were inspired by the Adirondacks, where she relocated a decade ago.
"Someone recently told me I tell stories by using images that don't relate to each other but somehow I tell a story by relating them to each other," Fennelly said.
Alice Boardman's vibrant photo collages such as "Tropical Starlings" and Julia Gronski's ceramic "Hares" round out "Females on the Fringe."

E-mail Robin Caudell at: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

 

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Exhibition of Modern Surrealist Watercolor Painter Lana Lucas

Comes to InterArt Gallery May 18-30

 

Painter Uses Vibrant Colors and Surrealistic Themes to Express Her Deep Emotions

 

NEW YORK – April 2, 2009 – Russian-born painter Lana Lucas will bring her modern surrealistic watercolor paintings to the InterArt Gallery from May 18-30 in an exhibition that is sure to stir deep emotions and heighten the visual senses.

 

“All of my surrealistic paintings tap the inner feelings deep inside of me and give them an avenue to escape,” said Lana Lucas. “It is very therapeutic for me to paint and unleash my true emotions.”

 

Critics say Lucas’s paintings feature rich vibrant colors contrasted with very dark subject matter of pain, suffering and even expressing anger. As an example, her very popular Hunt 1 and Hunt 2 pieces portray deep feelings resonating inside of Lucas at the time she painted them.

 

“Honestly, I was very angry and the paintings really express anger,” Lucas said.

 

According to Lucas, she finds inspiration in the art of Hans Bellmer, a German Surrealist photographer.

 

“Just like Bellmer’s surrealistic art, if you look very closely you can see there is an additional underline meaning to all of the watercolor paintings I’ve created,” Lucas said.

 

Lucas was born in Russia and spent several years creating furniture and metal sculptures. For the past ten years, she has been studying other forms of art and become attached to the art of watercolor painting. She has recently exhibited at ArtExpo New York, the National Arts Club New York and even at Surrealism and its Affinities in New York.

 

InterArt will be hosting a reception for Lana Lucas’s art on Thursday, May 21 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the gallery. The event is open to the public. Her artwork will be for available for purchase at the gallery.

 

For more information about Lana Lucas, her art and about the watercolor paintings she creates, please visit her website at www.lanalucas.com.

 

 

 

'Through the Prism of Green Eyes' - Lana Lucas - InterArt Gallery May 19-30

Mon, 04 May 2009, 08:00:10 EDT
Edited by Carly Zander

NEW YORK, N.Y., May 4 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Russian-born painter Lana Lucas will bring her contemporary surrealistic watercolor paintings to the InterArt Gallery in New York City in an exhibition that is sure to stir deep emotions and heighten visual senses. Lana Lucas has created a name for herself with paintings that feature rich, vibrant colors contrasted with very dark subjects that invite the viewer into a beautiful, yet strangely dangerous world. Her work is shown internationally and her images have been praised by art critic Bear Miller as being "haunting and fascinating."

For the past decade, Lana Lucas has been experimenting with different mediums as diverse as hand-welded stainless steel sculptural works and hand-painted furniture. Lucas - who finds inspiration in the art of German surrealist Hans Bellmer and in the world of dangerous carnivorous plants - has turned into painting more recently.

Lucas has recently exhibited at ArtExpo New York, the historic National Arts Club New York and was featured in the Fine Art Magazine's - The Soul Giants 2006 End of Fall Art Showcase.

The exhibition at InterArt will feature Lucas' Hunt I and Hunt II series and several of her portraits.

InterArt Gallery works with top European surrealist artists. The painters are chosen based on their dedicated surrealist vision and high level of technical skills.

"Through the Prism of Green Eyes" - Lana Lucas
InterArt Gallery May 19-30
225 Tenth Ave., New York, NY 10011
(between 23rd and 24th streets)
T: (212) 647-1811
F: (212) 647-0445
Gallery hours: Tues.-Sat. 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. * Sun. by appointment

Reception:
InterArt Gallery
Thursday, May 21
6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Open to the public
(with music by: Michael Shulman)

Related Links:
www.interartny.com and www.lanalucas.com.

All trademarks and service marks are the property of the respective parties.

 

NEWS SOURCE:  InterArt Gallery

Send2Press® is the originating wire service for this story.