Sharon Town Hall ART show

Radiant transfer by Glen Cunningham

Sharon Town Hall Exhibition

By Tilly Strauss

This was printed in the Lakeville Journal's Compass on 10/31/19

Zelina Blagden is weaving cultural relationships all over the town of Sharon. Installing eight artists in a group show at the Town hall and helping instigate the now annual Art Walk, Ms. Blagden has set up a tapestry of connections that is bringing to light the shape of Sharon’s art scene. Whether nose to canvas in the Standard Space Gallery, standing reflective at the Ice House, sipping wine at the Edward, or dropping into Smitty’s Barbershop, artists are leaving their trace all around the green. The art show at the Town Hall exemplifies Blagden’s all encompassing approach to curating.

Wander down the first floor hall and you will see how Blagden has brought together an eclectic collection of works that can initially seem more diverse than unified. The strength lies in their individual contributions to the whole of the community. All the artists are from the hills around the village. They are all strong in their field and relatively new to the area. This is a welcome introduction.

Interested in “a summer into fall vibe”, Blagden points out that the works, though varied, all convey an exploration of texture and pattern. Her own piece in the show, an assemblage called “Maine Sparkplug”, holds an essence of spiritual revelation in the juxtaposition of peeling frame, weathered wood, rusty nails, sea shell and the eponymous sparkplug. This is an alchemy that makes us believe that an artist can reveal to us the poetics of life through objects discarded. Scavenging for the found image as well, Millerton based photographer Susan Parker, has a series of black and white pictures, many of which are of shapes within shapes, feather and bone, and nature inspired. Amanda Horton-Jones, an artist hailing from both Salisbury and worldwide residences, emphasizes surface texture in her large paintings of luscious layered silhouetted women. Victoria Selbach’s “Mielikki”, a realistic oil painting, celebrates the artist’s friend who, as an environmentalist, wellness advocate and teacher, embodies the characteristics of the heroic Finnish goddess. According to Ms. Selbach, Mielikki, here naked and crouching in a lush forest with her bare toes at the water’s edge, “protects the vast life sustaining ecosystems of the forests and all who dwell there”. The romantic possibility of advocacy through paint is significant to the artist. More of Ms. Selbach’s large paintings of contemporary women can be seen hanging at Smitty's Barbershop, 16 W Main St. If you were on the Sharon Art Walk you would have seen her husband Mike Selbach’s prints hanging next door to Smitty’s. His limited editions at the Town Hall are complex multi-colored woodcuts depicting archaic details such as the tiled walls of a Turkish bath. Visual vibrations result from a kaleidoscope of mosaic shapes that shift and strike in living colors. The architectural framework protects the totality of appearance. Another artist in the show bringing an abstract shake up is Glenn Seelenbrant who creates visual vibrations with his photo cutouts that layer transitions of complementary colors in miniature screen formats of circles, lines and squares. Arriving to Sharon through Brooklyn, the artist Glen Cunningham explores geometry and the relationship of lines and ovals in designs breaking out of the rectilinear framework. Points overlap, contract and expand. The selection of five works span the last 10 years and yet feel fresh and audacious. His shaped canvases and crisp edges contrast with painterly brush strokes and a soft application of graphite. His color schemes range from subdued earth tones in “Ellipse Aligned” to vibrant hues reminiscent of a garden in bloom in “Inflowing Ignition”. Near by, the printed collages of JodiLuby of Salisbury offer a lyrical respite for the challenged eyes. She is a well-known graphic designer with a passion for printmaking. Her printed collages embody the sensation of botanicals with layers of transparent organic forms in a soft repetitive palette of rose and peach.

The show will be up through November, possibly longer.

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