Final Exhibit of Etched in Stone at Watershed Gallery

Watershed Gallery will display Béatrice Coron’s “Etched in Stone,” the 16-square-foot papercut inspired by the imagery, folklore and history of Ridgefield, for the last time. The piece, which has been well received by Ridgefield residents, blends well-known Ridgefield historical figures – such as Revolutionary War soldiers, The Leatherman and Typhoid Mary – with modern stories like that of a Hummer hitting the Cass Gilbert Fountain.

Coron, who has developed a language of storytelling by paper cutting multi-layered stories in the construction medium Tyvek, has her work in collections around the world, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

For “Etched in Stone,” Coron wielded her knife to tell the stories of Ridgefielders themselves. The artist visited the village to mine personal histories and folklore from notable citizens like First Selectman Rudy Marconi, entrepreneurs Laura and Joe Ancona, and The New Yorker illustrator Roz Chast.

The finished work reveals a Ridgefield that is by turns both whimsical and haunting.  Maurice Sendak’s Wild Things dance upon rooftops, Revolutionary War skeletons lay buried beneath a stone wall, and a Humvee sits perched atop a crumbling Cass Gilbert fountain.

Watershed Gallery is located at 23 Governor Street in Ridgefield.  Members of the general public are welcome to visit the gallery to view “Etched in Stone.” For more information, please visit www.watershedgallery.com or call 203.438.4387