Spring Group Exhibit: Joan Griswold, Allyson Levy, and Grey Zeien
Backroom: Abstract Paintings by Kathryn De Haan Butler and "Hudson Tattoos" a series of portraits by Bill Sullivan
May 14, 2009 through June 21, 2009
Berkshire resident Joan Griswold paints rural scenes and architectural views, but she is best know for her interiors where blissful domestic scenes and charming old shops are bathed in sunlight and warm colors. Reviewer Laura Chester comments, “The feelings these paintings evoke are filled with the calm embrace of longing. They invite you to partake in that necessary break from outward motion. They hold you still.”
Joan Griswold was born in
After a few years of foreign travel Ms. Griswold settled in New York where she opened and ran a small art gallery and frame shop for five years. In 1986 she moved to the Berkshires where she now lives with her husband, Roy Blount Jr. Ms. Griswold’s award-winning work has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions, and has been acclaimed in the New York Times and other publications. Her work can be found in many private collections throughout the
Also exhibiting in the Spring Group Exhibit is Allyson Levy, who lives in Stone Ridge with her artist husband, Scott Serano. Together they have created an enormous garden filled with exotic plants and trees. With her vast collections of petals, seeds, leaves and even insect wings, Ms. Levy creates fascinating compositions on wood panels. The organic materials are held in place and preserved forever with melted beeswax. Levy's process allows the viewer to take notice of the seed keys of a maple tree, the minute differences in the shape of an ash seed, the swelling of forsythia buds - miracles that otherwise go unnoticed. Allyson Levy received her BFA in Film from
In the Backroom space is a striking exhibit by Bill Sullivan titled "Hudson Tattoos". Well known as a landscape painter, Bill Sullivan has combined portraiture with landscape in this recently completed series. Each character that poses for Sullivan stands within an archway at Olana, Frederick Church’s home, with a striking view of the sky and landscape behind them. They are all relatively young and shirtless, exposing a multitude of tattoos on their chests, shoulders and arms. The juxtaposition of the traditional Hudson River School setting with the contemporary array of tattoos and low riding blue jeans is both delightful and poignant.
A new exhibiter at the Carrie Haddad Gallery, Grey Zeien makes large, non representational works that are a cacophony of color and shapes. Zeien's palette is as diverse as a giant box of Crayola Crayons and his compositions are just as playful. Another relatively new exhibiter, Kate Butler, will be part of the Backroom exhibits, with both small and large abstract paintings on wood panel and canvas. This small exhibit is a sort of a preview of her larger show which will be presented in the Fall.
Carrie Haddad Gallery is located at
