RUTH PEARL PHOTOGRAPHY

May 4th through June 15, 2014

My passion has always been animals and nature's beauty. The camera is my way of documenting what I have witnessed and experienced. When looking at photographs I have taken, I relive the emotions of those moments. This collection is just a "swatch" of the 1400 photos I took in the Galapagos in March, 2013. Going to "The Enchanted Islands" was a surreal experience for me. The islands were formed by volcanic eruptions in the Pacific Ocean and each island has its own unique fauna and flora. The native animals haave no predators (other than the friendly Galapagos Hawk) and do not fear humans. I found their serenity contagious. Many times, I had to walk around a sea liton. Booby or tortoise that was not about to get off the trail marked for humans. When photographing animals, I prefer to focus on only one or a pair, capturing the esssence of each as an individual of its species. I took all of these photos of wildlife at close range. Other than some cropping, none of the photos was digitally enhanced. I am grateful that I have always had the good health and time to travel extensively. It is with the encouragement of my loving family, that I am sharing this collection. \ My hope is that by sharing these images, your adventuresome spirit will be activated, and that you will work to help protect our earth's animals and environment. I must add my emotions are entirely different when I look at photos I took while tenting in the Serengeti in Tanzania. There it is a violent world for animals, and I did not sleep well. Galapagos: A truly peacable kingdom . . . and for how much longer? https://www.dropbox.com/s/4zpk8frda9vuz1o/A%20Journey%20to%20the%20Enchanted%20Islands%20information.docx

Todd Umbarger March 24th through May 3, 2014

Todd Umbarger is a native of New Milford and a 1995 graduate of New Milford High School. Following his graduation from Hartford Art School in 1999 with a BFA in Illustration, he moved to New York City and worked for several web and media companies before embarking on a career in freelance illustration. He has been published in various editorial, institutional and educational entities and worked with clients such as HBO, Anheuser-Busch and the United Nations. He also created a popular series of online political cartoons and exhibited them at The Silo in New Milford in 2010. Umbarger has since returned to Connecticut and in 2012 made a transition into fine art. He is currently a graphic artist at Whole Foods Market Danbury. The “Point of Impact” series depicts the spectacle of an explosion as a surreal Pop art object. The explosion is both a horrific act of violence and a staple of modern entertainment. We recoil at the death and destruction caused at home and abroad by these fiery combustions while we simultaneously cheer the contemporary heroes of film, television and gaming who employ them regularly. The eruptions of “Point of Impact” are presented without context- no geography, no victims, no debris- and are pure solid forms of fire and smoke. Each panel is a unique exploration of shape and color while retaining a sense of force and light. “Point of Impact” also symbolizes one man’s long-desired burst of artistic energy after a demoralizing creative drought.

Deedee Calvey

February 8th through March 23, 2014 Deedee Calvey is an artist and tai chi instructor. She has been exhibiting locally since before the turn of the century! Born Donna Diane Ball, Dee remembers enjoying making art for as long as she can remember. Her kindergarten report card reads: Donna has good ability and especially enjoys and does well at art work. It is as true today as it was then. In touch with my creator, Deedee has become very present in trying to capture the beauty and movement of light and color. Finding symbols in the negative spaces delights her when she discovers them with her brush. Deedee says: “I am delighted when you like what i do!” Deedee has had many exhibits, the latest being at the Bank Street Coffee House and New Milford Public Library. She has done portraits of people, pets and homes and has been commissioned for various art project. She sells her paintings throughout the year. View slideshow Charles Gehm January 6-February 14, 2014 Sept 21-Nov 4, 2012 .

Charles Gehm January 5-February 9, 2014

Charles Gehm has been a fine artist and illustrator for over 60 years. Displaying exceptional talent as a child, he was selected to paint a large wall mural depicting The Intellectual Phases of Education on acoustic tiles in his Alliance, OH high school. When years later the old school was replaced with a new one, this mural was lovingly removed and reassembled in its new place of honor. Charles subsequently received the school’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. He won the Scholastic Art Awards 1948 Certificate of Merit along with their scholarship to attend the Columbus College of Art and Design, where he studied under Joseph Canzani. His studies were interrupted by service in the Korean War; upon returning home he enrolled in the Chicago Academy of Fine Art. Charles enjoyed great success as an illustrator. During his long career he created book cover art for every major United States publishing house. His illustrated young adult books The Thanksgiving Treasure and A House Without a Christmas Tree (Scholastic) have both been televised. Also in his resume are magazine illustrations for Redbook, Reader’s Digest, and Good Housekeeping, record jacket covers for Columbia Records, and advertising art for clients including Delta Airlines, Kellogg’s, E&J Brandy and Land o’ Lakes. Highly prized, his collectible art projects include a series of limited edition Gone With The Wind prints (Marks Collection), Wizard of Oz prints (Marks Collection), and Grimm’s Fairy Tales plates (Bradford Exchange). He painted the now collectible poster for the film Barry Lyndon. Other movie posters include The Island, The River, The Betsey, and Death on the Nile. In 2002, The Board of the New York Stock Exchange selected him to create their Christmas card for that season. The original painting now hangs in the NTSE Museum. Along with his commercial projects, Charles worked as a fine artist. He has received numerous awards for his fine art, including Best in Show from The Butler Art Institute, OH, The Kent Art Association, CT, and The Richter Association for the Arts, CT. His oil and watercolor paintings have been shown in The Husberg Fine Arts Gallery, AZ, The Vanier & Roberts Gallery, AZ, The National Arts Club, NY, The Salmagundi Art Club, NY, as well as in various galleries in Connecticut. Sharing his love of art with students, Charles taught life drawing and painting at The Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, illustration at Pratt Institute, NY, and drawing, design, painting and illustration at Western Connecticut State University. He has been a member of The Society of Illustrators, The Salmagundi Club and The National Arts Club. Currently a member of The Oil Painters of America, he has participated in several of their group shows. Charles resides in Connecticut with his artist wife, Judy York.

Shelley Lowell

November 17 through January 5, 2014 Shelley Lowell was born in the Bronx, NY in 1946 and started drawing before she was four years of age. She graduated Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, with a BFA in Advertising Design & Visual Communications. She is a painter, sculptor, illustrator and designer as well as poet. Her paintings are allegorical stylized surreal landscapes. These works inspire poetic stories. She has been writing poetry since the early 1970s and performed them in Asheville, NC, the Metropolitan Washington DC area and New England. Many have been published and recorded. Her current paintings and their inspired poems have been in solo exhibits. She performs the paintings’ poetry at her solo art show receptions. Her illustrations have been published in print advertising, brochures and books. She won the prestigious New York Society of Illustrators Award of Merit and many other awards for her paintings and graphic designs. Her artwork and designs have been published in numerous books and publications. She is also known for her commissioned pet paintings. This work can be seen at www.GreatPetPaintings.com. Her landscape paintings with their poems are her way to communicate her inner-self and her reactions to her surroundings. Her artistic ability was developed over the last 40+ years expressed as contemporary artwork with an edge, a statement and a message. Early in her artistic career (1970s), her art earned her the label of New York City feminist representational and social commentary visual artist as she produced monumental original artwork and poetry as a counter statement to what she felt as demeaning aspects of the sexual revolution of the period. This artwork was in exhibits with such notable feminist artists as Judy Chicago, Miriam Schapiro, Joan Semmel, Anne Sharp, Linda Benglis, Agnes Denes, Hannah Wilke, Sylvia Sleigh and Judith Bernstein to name a few. Her feminist art is in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Feminist Art Base on the Brooklyn Museum web site. This work has been in museum and gallery exhibits and published in feminist art journals and publications. Biographical information and image of one of her paintings is in Women Artists of America II. Throughout her artistic career, she has maintained a thread of communicating messages or making statements in her art due, no doubt, to her studying Advertising Design & Visual Communications at Pratt Institute. Her messages and statements have changed as she has grown artistically and personally, but her statements are always been about humanity and the human condition. She has always remained an innovator in her art. Her work is in corporate and private collections. Aside from her inclusion in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Feminist Art Base, she is also in Clara, the Archive Library of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, DC), and WAAND, the feminist woman artists data base at Rutgers University. She resides in Danbury, CT where she has her studio.

Mo Myra Illustrations

Mo Myra is a local Hartford artist who mainly focuses on landscapes the figure and fashion illustrations. Her work has been displayed nationally and in many different group exhibitions. She is completing her BFA this year at the Hartford Art School. Mo Myra is currently available for portrait commissions. Please contact her be phone of email as listed on her website.

Angelica Mendes Student Artist

August 25-October 6, 2013 Since I was a little girl I loved to spend hours drawing and doodling on any paper that I could fine. Now, I am a student artist and currently attending Northwestern Connecticut Community College. I have been working on my Associate Degree in Fine Arts for the past two years. I have been in two art student shows at Northwestern Community College and a student art show at Artwell Gallery in Torrington, Connecticut. Also, several of my artworks are displayed in private collections. I am currently employed as an Art Teacher at a Private School. The work that I am displaying at the New Milford Public Library ranges from oil paintings, film photography, and charcoal drawings. I will also be displaying in a case pottery, cardboard and clay objects, and additional film photographs. My favorite medium of art is oil painting and film photography. I enjoy working with the materials and having a hands on experience with my art work rather than working with computers and technology.