The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘In the Thicket’ art show opens Friday
CANTON — The Annual Maxwell Shepherd Memorial Invitational Exhibition, which opens April 20 at the Gallery on the Green, will feature the works of artist Susan Bogle Finnegan.
The exhibition — titled “In the Thicket” — will run through May 20. The opening reception is Saturday, April 21 from 6 to 9 p.m., preceded by a gallery talk by the artist at 5 p.m. The show is curated by Ann Finholt and A. Walter Kendra.
Finnegan’s bold, often gestural depictions of winterberry bushes, pine trees and hydrangea, among other subjects, explore nature’s entanglements up close. Working from memory, as if immersed in the growth, she employs paint to search out feeling and meaning in shapes, color, space and structure.
In describing her work, Finnegan says, “The natural motifs contained in my work are central to the emotional realm of my life, a realm encompassing not only a sense of place but also one of history, abundance, loss and the cyclical rhythm of the seasons. My aim is to organize the ‘sense of air,’ structure, weight, surface, space and light within the subject. I am interested in how the sense or spirit of natural forms can be expressed, not so much literally, but rather lyrically and poetically.”
Finnegan earned an MFA in Painting from the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford. She teaches at the Hartford Art School and Trinity College.
The exhibition is organized and sponsored by the Maxwell Shepherd Memorial Arts Fund, a not-forprofit organization dedicated to the fine and performing arts. Additional information on the fund is available at maxshepherdarts.com