Gallery opens shows tonight

TORRINGTON — Five Points Gallery, located at 33 Main St. in downtown Torrington, will open “Paper Rock Scissors,” and “Floating Walls Tectonic Ziggurats,” two new shows that will run from Thursday through April 7.

Taking the words of the game as a jumping-off point, Paper Rock Scissors presents nine artists who work in collage, watercolor, photography, bookmaking, origami, sculpture and installation — and draw inspiration from widely differing sources. In their pieces, the artists incorporate handmade papers, thread, scraps of silk, blasted rock and rusted metal, transforming them into exciting and highly original compositions.

The artists featured in the West and TDP Galleries are May Babcock, Andrew Buck, Walter Kendra, Carole Kunstadt, Leslie Landau, Joyce Miller, Ben Parker, Chris Perry and Rashmi Talpade.

Julie Pereira’s Floating Walls and Tectonic Ziggurats will be shown in the East Gallery. Pereira’s exhibition will consist of large paper walls suspended from the ceiling. Pereira developed a method of burning multiple layers of artist paper with a stick of incense — after living in Kyoto, Japan for nine years — carving the paper, creating intricate patterns allowing the paper to breathe.

Both exhibitions are sponsored by Brooks, Todd and McNeil.

Five Points Gallery will hold two events in conjunction with the exhibition: an opening reception from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday; and an artists’ Panel Discussion in the gallery on March 23, at 6 p.m.

Gallery hours are Thursdays through Mondays, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and by appointment. There is no admission charge. Five Points exhibitions and educational events are free and open to the public. Five Points Gallery will be closed April 1.

Located in an historic downtown building, Five Points Gallery is a nonprofit contemporary art gallery showcasing professional regional, national and international visual artists.

The gallery presents exhibitions in three beautifully renovated exhibition spaces, and has earned a reputation as one of Connecticut’s outstanding contemporary art venues.

For information about the gallery, visit www.fivepointsgallery.org Five Points is supported in part by the Connecticut Office of the Arts.