‘Art of the Hills’ exhibit features alums

NEW MILFORD — “Art of the Hills,” a new exhibit at Hunt Hill Farm, 44 Upland Road, New Milford, features works by Andrew Richards, visual arts chairman at The Gunnery, and Tyler Farmen, who graduated from The Gunnery in 2000 and is now the Fine Arts Department Chair at Rumsey Hall School in Washington.

“‘Art of the Hills’ continues a long Hunt Hill tradition of exhibiting the work of accomplished local artists,” officials at the nonprofit organization said in announcing the exhibit. “Celebrating the rich, creative culture of the region, ‘Art of the Hills’ highlights the works of both emerging and established Litchfield Hills-based artists working in all styles and genres.”

The exhibit will remain on view through Nov. 21.

A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, Richards teaches ceramics, drawing, painting, and Advanced Placement Studio Art at The Gunnery. As an artist, he has turned to new materials and methods in the past few years, making use of recycled and natural materials to create works based on an environmental theme. His images are often inspired by the golden ratio, also known as the Fibonacci sequence, in which the next number is found by adding together the two numbers before it.

“This golden ratio occurs often in nature and is why the flowers and shells are used as the central theme of the work,” said Richards, who lives in Kent.

A native of Washington, Farmen received a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 2004. He lived and worked in New York as a designer for two years before returning to Connecticut in 2006. His work ranges from painting and sculpture to graphics and fashion. He has said that his ambition “is to make people approach what they look at every day with new value.”

For information, visit www.Gunnery.org.

The Gunnery / Contributed photo “SunBurst” by Andrew Richards