Show opens at Pegasus Gallery

Contributed story

MIDDLETOWN — “Bewilderness,” a show of works by Tom Smith, will be shown in the Pegasus Gallery at Middlesex Community College Thursday through Jan. 7. An opening reception is scheduled for Nov. 8 from 5-7 p.m.

Smith’s sculptures and paintings are produced in dialogue with the natural world. Smith describes his practice as “observing and chronicling the infinite works of nature—in particular, the minutiae of sticks.” Line is employed here as an evocative structural device that permits simultaneous readings of containment and of infinite outward growth.

Sculpture of bent, twist-tied, wrapped and painted branches form open cocoon-like matrices where complex structural form is amplified by light and cast shadow. Paintings resemble thickets and nets of segmented arabesque. Gestural marks resemble the irregular jointed structures of branch and vine forms. Smith’s work imparts an interior perspective of human and environmental interactions that are imbued with intimacy, sensitivity and flux.

Smith has led a 20+ year career as an architect, teacher and freelance illustrator. He attended Virginia Tech School of Architecture, Hampshire College, Pratt Institute, and the Rhode Island School of Design, and he lives in Colchester.

Middlesex Community College is located at 100 Training Hill Road. Pegasus Gallery is within the library on the first floor of Chapman Hall. The Niche is in Founders Hall across from the Registrar’s Office. Hours: Monday through Thursday 8 a.m.–7 p.m.; Fridays 8 a.m.–4 p.m.