JULY EXHIBIT

Sea Glass: Interpretations of Water
Featuring Roberta Friedman, Rita Hannafin, Sheila Kaczmarek, and Kathy Kane

The treasure of sea glass is not only in its varied shapes and colors, but also in the surprise and happenstance of it. The same is true for the exhibit SEA GLASS: INTERPRETATIONS OF WATER, on view at City Gallery from July 10 - August 1. The show features a colorful and unexpected collection of fiber arts, paintings, and sculpture by member artists Roberta Friedman, Rita Hannafin, Sheila Kaczmarek, and Kathy Kane. Visit the gallery Friday - Sunday, 12 p.m. - 4 p.m., or come to the Artist Reception on Saturday, July 25., 2-4 p.m.

Working with a variety of media, and inspired by living near the water — the work of these four artists tell distinct stories connected by common threads of creativity and an artist’s view of the world around us.

Roberta Friedman’s encaustics, collages, and paintings haven been shown throughout the New Haven area for more than 40 years. She has participated in painting workshops at Omega Institute, with Judith Cornell’s Mandala workshops, with watercolorist Jan Hart at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico, and with many well regarded local teachers, especially Hilda Levy. She continues to study and share her knowledge of water media and collage techniques with children, teens, and adults in the greater New Haven area.

Rita Daley Hannafin tells stories by combining various textiles, stitch, paint, collage, and digital imagery in her art quilts. She discovered this medium after moving to Connecticut in 2004, combining a lifelong love of art with her passion for textiles. Since then, her work has explored landscape, climate change, politics, personal stories and abstraction. She is currently a member of Studio Art Quilt Associates, the Black Rock Art Guild, and City Gallery in New Haven. Her work is included in the National Registry of Quilts.

Kathy Kane has maintained a studio in Erector Square in New Haven for more than 30 years. She is a member of City Gallery, Guilford Art League, and the Connecticut Watercolor Society, and she has exhibited her work at numerous Connecticut galleries. Kane has traveled nationally displaying her watercolor paintings at juried museum art shows and has won many prizes. She resides in East Haven.

Sheila Kaczmarek works with mixed media, including clay. Her interest lies in both the process of layering and in stripping away surfaces. She apprenticed in the ceramic studio of Guilford Art Center for 5 years. Her work with clay involves both high and low fired clay, pit firing, and Raku. Her clay surfaces sometimes incorporate paint, metal and encaustic wax.

The exhibit SEA GLASS: INTERPRETATIONS OF WATER and the Artist Reception are free and open to the public. City Gallery is located at 994 State Street, New Haven, CT 06511. Gallery hours are Friday - Sunday, 12 p.m. - 4 p.m., or by appointment. For further information please contact City Gallery, info@city-gallery.org, www.city-gallery.org.

JUNE EXHIBIT

Artist Judy Atlas asks WHAT IF? in a new exhibit at New Haven’s City Gallery, on view June 5 - June 28. There will be an Opening Reception on Sunday, June 7 from 2 - 4 p.m., and an Artist Talk at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 28.

WHAT IF? is a collection of paintings and collages inspired by Modern Architecture and the work of architect Frank Gehry who passed away in December. “My painting process constantly asks and answers the question WHAT IF?, explains Atlas. “Experimenting with color, shape, line, movement and abstraction, each painting speaks to the initial inspiration in my own voice.” Her collages take this a step further, as she cuts up and re-uses older paintings in new and contemplative ways.

Atlas is an abstract artist whose paintings, monotypes and collages are expressions of the patterns, shapes and movements found in nature and everyday life. Her work relates to places and landscapes, real and imagined, external and internal. Atlas taught watercolor painting, collage, and abstract painting courses at the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven for 22 years, retiring in 2020. She has been a member of City Gallery since 2008. Her work has been featured in numerous solo, group, and juried shows throughout New England.

The exhibit WHAT IF?, the Opening Reception and Artist Talk are free and open to the public. City Gallery is located at 994 State Street, New Haven, CT 06511. Gallery hours are Friday - Sunday, 12 p.m. - 4 p.m., or by appointment. For further information please contact City Gallery, info@city-gallery.org, www.city-gallery.org.