Ridgefield artist Debra Schaffer exhibits mixed media photo collage at Wilton Library

Four local artists will display their talents, their works and their love of vastly differing medium in Wilton Library’s art exhibition, “The Message is in the Medium,” opening Friday, November 18, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The featured artists are Eileen Panepinto (Weston), painting; Debra Schaffer (Ridgefield), mixed media photo collage; Ellen Schiffman (Weston), fiber art; and Joyce Seymour (Wilton), photography. The reception is free and open to the public.

The four featured artists come to their craft in ways as varied as their talent:

Eileen Panepinto is a mixed media artist, painter and collagist who received her BFA with honors in painting from the School of Visual Arts, New York City. The focus of Ms.Panepinto’s work is creating abstract and semi-abstract narratives about experiences, places, and states-of-mind through mixed media construction, collages and paintings. She has exhibited in numerous group shows in New York City and Connecticut and has had six one-person shows. She was recently awarded two special recognition awards for her mixed media painting installations. Her work is in numerous private collections as well as installed in a public space. She belongs to the Westport Art Center Artist Collective which helps to engage the community with the arts. In addition, she has been a teaching artist for many years teaching visual art to children in various venues including visiting artists programs at area schools, special summer art camp programs, in individual instruction and in after-school programs.

Debra Schaffer began her career as a high school English teacher; today she still teaches but now the subject is sculpture, not English. After teaching in the schools and having two children, her life took a turn toward art. She began carving stone and wood, later working in clay and wax. Years later her sculpture led to three-dimensional mixed media photo collages that are featured in the library’s exhibition. Ms. Schaffer is a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists, the Katonah Museum Artist’s Association, and the Ridgefield Guild of Artists. She has shown in more than twenty galleries, as well as museums, invitationals and juried shows winning numerous awards.

Her work is featured in more than 400 private collections and public areas such as the Tully Health Center in Stamford, Northern Westchester Hospital and more.

Ellen Schiffman is a multimedia artist with fiber at the core of much of her artwork. She has been a professional artist for close to 25 years. She uses a range of traditional and experimental techniques including felting, stitching, weaving, quilting, basketry techniques, fiber manipulation and more. Although she frequently works with silks, wools, handmade paper and other expected materials, she also uses unconventional materials in her work such as Q-Tips, ace bandages, metal hardware and found items of all sorts.

Joyce Seymore is an artist and photographer working in Wilton. As a student at the University of Florida, where she majored in Art History, she was fortunate to study photography under Jerry Uelsmann, who inspired in her a lifelong love of photography and printing. After her graduation, she moved to New York City, where she worked for the next 20 years in the photography departments of various Time Inc. publications, including Time, People, and Money, where she was the photo editor. She studied at Hunter College for a Master’s degree in Art History. Almost a decade later in the ’80s she left Time, Inc. for her own photographic pursuits. In 2011, she spent seven weeks as a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome, where she photographed the graffiti, tattered posters, and peeling surfaces of Roman walls. Forty of these photos were included in her open studio at the Academy--From the Walls of Rome: Intimate Abstraction. Some of these works will be featured in the library’s exhibition.

The exhibition runs through Thursday, December 29. A majority of the works will be available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the library. Wilton Library hours are Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m.

The library will be closed on Thanksgiving Eve, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the observed holiday on Monday, December 26. Wilton Library is located at 137 Old Ridgefield Road in the heart of Wilton Center. For information and directions, visit www.wiltonlibrary.org or call 203-762-6334.

R
Submitted by Ridgefield, CT

Become a Local Voice in Your Community!

HamletHub invites you to contribute stories, events, and more to keep your neighbors informed and connected.

Read Next