Area Artists Showcased at Lionheart Gallery July 5 to September 27

Announcing a summertime lineup that includes some of the hottest contemporary artists, Susan Grissom, director of the Lionheart Gallery at 27 Westchester Avenue in Pound Ridge, New York, said that the Gallery’s group exhibition will open on July 5 through September 27, 2015. The exhibition will feature a robust portfolio of works by 14 different area artists, including Westport artist Claudia Mengel, New Canaan painter Paul Balmer and Darien printmaker Karen Vogel; Bedford satirist Whit Conrad and Pound Ridge painters David Hutchinson and Geoffrey Stein; North Salem abstract artist Ashley Chase Andrews; Litchfield County artists Liz Dexheimer and organic sculptor Donald Bracken; mixed media artist from Rhode Island Barbara Owen and Hampton’s artist Betsy Podlach, along with visionary photographers Ann George, Emma Powell and Jennifer Schlesinger from Colorado, Louisiana and New Mexico.

Sitting along a rural road between New Canaan, Connecticut, and Pound Ridge, New York, the quiet surrounds of the Lionheart Gallery will showcase the brightest and the best in this summer’s group exhibition, enlightening with illuminated perspectives that exude the very nature of contemporary art.

            Mentioning the incredible diversity of artwork and the plethora of talents in this show, Susan Grissom advised, “With organically based sculpture created by acclaimed mixed media artist Donald Bracken, stunning ethereal photography from a trio of visionary women photographers, and paintings of all subject and style by forward-thinking artists exceptionally skilled in their use of color and mixed media applications, this exhibition offers something for everyone.”

            Color, emotionally charged, brilliantly executed and joyous in expression, defines Claudia Mengel’s signature style in large-scale paintings that provide the focal palette for any space where they are hung. Her vision is inspired by the landscapes around her and takes shape in a kaleidoscope of imagery and colors, hand mixed, heartfelt and uniquely finessed to evoke the luminosity and spiritual beauty that characterizes her work. 

            Paul Balmer hails from South Africa, studied art in Australia, taught drawing in Switzerland, honed his fine art talents in Paris, worked as a commercial illustrator in Boston and then moved to New York.  His art is theme-based, evocative and expressed in a series of works that evolve into visual perspectives that chronicle a sense of place. Whether they are urban renderings of city skylines or pastoral settings, each is immersed in the energy and the colorful personalities of the landscapes he paints into immortality.

            Bedford resident Whit Conrad takes whimsy to a new level with his satirical painted commentaries of dinner parties, goat farms, pink ladies, comedic self-portraits and more. His ability to engage viewers in animated conversations about his expressive caricatures has made him a huge success at the Lionheart Gallery.

            West Cornwall resident Donald Bracken takes his inspiration from the Earth, literally. He incorporates vines, twigs, dirt and clay into his sculpture to honor the beauty found in nature. His three dimensional works are quiet reflections of treasured woodlands, tranquil ponds and verdant foliage, where frog love, starry nights, fireflies and plants evoke the inherent rhythm of the soil, giving life and movement to his signature art style. The summer exhibition will feature free-hanging sculptures that suggest living moments with every movement.

            Documenting dreamy other worlds with an imaginative mix of archival photography processes and digital enhancements, the women photographers featured in the gallery’s exhibition, Ann George, Emma Powell and Jennifer Schlesinger invite the public to experience people and places posed in time.

          Darien resident Karen Vogel is a printmaker and painter who, like Donald Bracken, finds inspiration in the natural world. Her work deftly explores the connection between patterns, textures, layers, colors, perspective and scale and plays out on canvas.

            An architect with a passion for embedding code in art, David Hutchinson finds inspiration in his artistic alphabet. “As a concept based abstract artist,” he explains, “my work investigates the nature of communication and the meaning of visual presentation.”

            Similarly motivated by abstract expression, Ashley Chase Andrews, a transplanted Californian, is a self-professed risk taker who finds freedom in mark making as she tries to “discover the balance of line, color, volume and personal strokes.  She likes to work fast and big as she strives to convey the streets, architecture, museums and city near the hamlet she now calls home.

            Hampton’s artist Betsy Podlach has an uncanny knack for hinting at her subject’s inner life, while engaging the viewer in speculation. Her work leaps off the canvas with hints of sensuality and vulnerability. She notes “people have a rich inner life existing simultaneously with our outward appearance.” Pause at her poses and find surprising artistic depth in her visual portraits.

            Liz Dexheimer impresses with paintings and prints inspired by natural landscapes, and Rhode Island artist Barbara Owen works her magic with paper and paint, presenting series of works that “ explore how color, shape, material and paint itself develop and change one’s experience of each work.”

            The Lionheart Gallery, located at 27 Westchester Avenue in Pound Ridge, New York, is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 12 pm to 4 pm. For more information, visit www.thelionheartgallery.com or call 914-764-8689.

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Submitted by Westport, CT

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