The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Naturethemed pastels, sculpture featured in library show
FALLS VILLAGE — The David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village will have a reception on Saturday, 46 p.m., for the exhibition, “Forms from Nature,” featuring artists Sybil M. Perry and Serena Weld Granbery.
The exhibit will include new paintings in pastel by Perry and new sculptures by Granbery. Refreshments will be served and there will be a jazz music performance by The Ted Perry Trio. The exhibition will be on display through Sept. 14, and include an artists’ salon interview with writer CB Wismar. Sept. 7 at 4 p.m.
Perry, a resident of Cornwall Bridge, will exhibit new, small closeup paintings of wildflowers, ferns, shrub and tree blossoms, roses, and water lilies in pastel, “capturing on an emotional level,” the artist said, “the beauty and sacredness of the earth. Water, mist and mountains continually intrigue me: the mountains of the Berkshires, the Hudson Valley, Lake George and Kyoto. I am inspired by landscapes that make me catch my breath.”
Regarding the medium of pastel, Perry says, “I prefer pastel. With its flexibility, I can draw and paint at the same time, using the tip as well as the side of the pastel. Pastel holds its archival colors and value for generations and emits a vibrancy of color that oil, which may eventually yellow, cannot. Pastels from the 16th century exist today as fresh and alive as the day they were painted.”
Perry was born in Chicago, graduated from William Smith College, Geneva, N.Y., and received a BFA in Painting, summa cum laude, from the University of Bridgeport. She was the recipient of an individual artist grant from the Martha Boschen Porter Fund for travel and research in Kyoto, Japan, leading to new paintings; she won the Silver Grumbacher Medallion from the Milford Fine Arts National Juried Exhibition, and the Garfield Gallery Prize from the New Haven Paint and Clay Club.
The sculptor, Weld Granbery, who lives in Salisbury and maintains a studio there, takes inspiration and form for her sculptures equally from the outdoor environments of our forests and oceans and the human body, blending and combining the elements of each to strike a pleasurably familiar chord. Her work expresses the depth of our connection to the natural world while allowing room for our imaginations to play. In this exhibit, Granbery uses white stoneware, porcelain, forged copper and forged bronze as her sculptural media.
Granbery has worked professionally as a sculptor and painter since 1970. She taught art and architectural design at The Hotchkiss School, and multimedia art at Indian Mountain School, as well as in New York City. She began her art career as an Art Therapist at The Jewish School for the Blind in New York City where she used ceramic sculpture as a therapeutic medium. She is a graduate of The University of Massachusetts, BFA, and has a Certificate of Human Relations from The New School for Social Research and The Parsons School of Design. She has done graduate work at Bard College and at Columbia University.
For more information, call the library at 8608247424 or visit www.huntlibrary.org. The library is located at 63 Main Street, Falls Village. Hours are Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5p.m., Friday, 3 to 7p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The artists’ work can be seen at www. sybilmperry.com and www. granberysculpture.com.