Ray Kwwsiatkoski

January 30, 2018 through March 31, 2018 Ray Kwiatkowski became fascinated by the Litchfield County countryside right after college, when he took a job delivering early morning newspapers. He began taking black and white photos of country roads and other rural scenes, discovering new beauty along the way, which became his lifelong pursuit. Later, as a freelance writer, his photos often appeared with the articles he wrote. In 2013, he published "Rural Wealth," a book of his verses and photos. "I like to exhibit images that are intended to teach as well as bring insight into what is often just a glance away," says Kwiatkowski, who was self taught and influenced by conversations he had with the late photographic artist, Donald Bruen.

Artist Dennis William Stuart

Mr. Stuart is a nationally recognized artist from Litchfield County, Ct. "With my paintings, I attempt to capture a moment in time revealing a comtemplative interpretation of nature." Farm, field, forest and brook are landscapte subjects Stuart is drawn toward. "My painting interest is emphasis on pattern and color harmony using suggestive texture, color and shape in translating subject to canvas or paper." His painting career spans forty years. Group exhibits with awards include: National Park Academy of the Arts, Punta Gorda National Art Exhibition, Visual Arts Center, Connecticut Academy of Fine Art, Hudson Valley Art Association, Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Hammond Museum, American Watercolor Society, National Society of Casein and Acrylic Paining, Adirondack National Watercolor Society, North East Watercolor Society and Connecticut Watercolor Society. His college education include the Ringling School of Art, School of Visual Arts and Paier School of Art. In Connecticut his art is represented by PS Gallery in Litchfield. dwstuart10@gmail.com

Artist Lorraine Ryan

New Milford Public Library, located at 24 Main Street, will host an exhibit of paintings by New Milford artist Lorraine Ryan, from April 17 through June 24, 2017. Ryan is a graduate of the Parsons School of Design and studied fine arts as well at the Art Students League of New York. She has had one woman shows in New York and Connecticut and received awards in juried exhibitions. Her paintings have been collected in the U.S. and the U.K. and reproduced as posters and greeting cards worldwide. Her current focus is Connecticut farms and barns, in the hopes of raising awareness to their unfortunate and rapid disappearance

Michael Centrella

February 5, 2017 through April 16, 2017 http://backnthereagain.blogspot.com/

Brief Bio: Michael Centrella is a self-taught painter who works primarily in oil colors. Formerly on the faculties of the University of Connecticut and Yale Medical Schools, he began to paint about six years ago in preparation for retirement. And now retired, he considers creating art the best “job” he ever had. During this period his work has been shown at several commercial galleries in Connecticut, at the New Britain Museum of American Art, at the Lyme Art Association, and at the New Haven Paint and Clay Club where this year his painting was given the Carl J. Blenner Prize. He is mainly inspired by early to mid 20th century realists, including Fairfield Porter, Edward Hopper, Lucian Freud, Joachin Sorolla, and John Singer Sargent, although his work does not emulate those masters. He paints the full gamut of landscape, cityscape, seascape, still life, and figural images, with a greater focus on the challenge of figures in the last few years. His paintings are now in private collections throughout the USA. I don’t expect that people will necessarily find many of my paintings commonplace or pretty. Rather, I want the images to present a context that can develop a visual story for the viewer. I am surprised that, in retirement, I don’t have as much time as I would like to paint. Because of this I often try to produce an image in a single session, or at least with minimal adjustment soon after. Even so, I am seldom completely satisfied with a painting right after it is created. But I have finally learned that more is not always better, and to stop when the story appears to be told. The following comments from George Bellows, I think, well describe some of my thoughts on painting: As he wrote: "I am always very amused with people who talk about lack of subjects for painting. The great difficulty is that you cannot stop to sort them out enough. Wherever you go they are waiting for you". “There is a strange disease in people's minds which makes them imagine themselves as arbiters of beauty, and creates a constant and foolish demand that pictures be all 'pretty'. As if Shakespeare had always gone around writing love sonnets." Finally, as a rule, I try to paint until I can produce something that I would admire if I knew that someone else painted it. That may seem odd, but it’s true.

Susan Grissell

February 28, 2016 through April 10, 2016

Susan, a life-long Gaylordsville residents, began studying with her neighbor, impressionist master Bernard Lennon in 1964. She continued to paint with him until his death in `1992 and still works in his studio. She considers her work to be an exploration of the relationship of man to nature: a visual diar y in which each piece represents a specific time and place as perceived by the artist. She works primarily, though not exclusively, on location and has painted extensively in this country and in France and Italy. Susan exhibits mainly in outdoor shows. Among her awards are: Best in Show in Mystic and New Milford; First Prize in Oils in Mystic, New Milford and the Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit in New York; First Prize in Watercolor in Newport and an Honorable Mention in the Connecticut Pastel Society's Invitational Show. Other awards include Best Landscape (Washington Square) and the Brackman Award for Figure and Portraiture (Mystic). She demonstrated and lectured at several schools and organizations, including the North Shore Art League of Long Island and the Kent Memorial Library, New Milford Historical Society and Gallery 25, all of Connecticut. She has also demonstrated on videotape for the benefit of students and others interested in a straightforward approach to painting landscapes, still life and the figure. She is a New York City and a past Member of the Kent Art Association and the Lyme Art Association, both of Connecticut. Two of her painting accompany the poems of Neil Silberblatt in his recent book of verse "Present Tense." Her work is in private collections throughout the United States and Europe, Japan and Australia and is gaining popularity in France and China.

Richard Stalter October 25, 2015

Richard Stalter

http://richardstalter.com/ Richard was born in Dayton, Ohio on April 27th 1934. He developed an interest in art at a very early age, gaining recognition for his work in both grade school and high school. He kept his interest in art alive in his college years at Ohio State University and after he graduated. He mistakenly thought that advertising was the only practical way to utilize his artistic interests to make a living. In 1958, during a six month stay in New York City, he met and befriended a master impressionist artist, Bernard Lennon. In l964, Richard quit his job in advertising and moved to Gaylordsville, Ct to study with Mr. Lennon and began his career as a professional artist. That year also marked the beginning of his participation in the Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit (New York City) and the Mystic Outdoor Art Festival (Mystic, Ct). Throughout the years, he won many prizes in both shows including First Prize in Oils four times in the Mystic exhibition and Special Landscape Award at the Washington Square show. During those years he also participated in other group shows in the Northeast winning prizes several times in Newport, RI and once in Atlantic City, NJ. Mr. Stalter paints his subjects on location finding inspiration from scenes throughout the Litchfield Hills and nearby New York State, within easy reach of his Gaylordsville home. He paints all four seasons at these locations and adds figures and still life painting done from life to his body of work. From the 1960's through the 1980's, he traveled yearly to Provincetown and Wellfleet on Cape Cod to capture the seaside light and subjects and visited there in 2007 to paint. Beginning in the 80's, he sought out the boat and water subjects on Mystic and Stonington, Ct. He still paints there two or three times a year. One of his lifelong ambitions was to preserve the best of contemporary impressionist works of art in a museum which he spent five years (1994-1999) helping in the unsuccessful attempt to raise sufficent funds to establish it in New Milford, Ct.

Christina Achorn March 29 through May 10, 2015

Christina’s work primarily consists of charcoal drawings which employ figures and settings derived from her own invention. She learned traditional applications of fine arts and human anatomy while attaining her Bachelors of Fine Arts at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, Connecticut. Upon her arrival at the Lyme Academy in 2010, as a Drawing major, she was awarded the Chandler Scholarship and the CICS Independent College Scholarship for the merit of her portfolio. The exhibit will be on view during regular library hours .http://www.christinaachorn.com/white/