Wilton Library’s June art exhibition celebrates the power of friendship when four friends with a passion for painting showcase their works in “Artists’ Choice 2016,” opening Friday, June 3, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The artists are Mollie Keller (Trumbull), Toby Michaels (Westport), Diane Pollack (Fairfield), and Florence Zolan (Bridgeport). Their common ground is the Art/Place Gallery in Fairfield where they are all members however their diversity in their works sets them apart.
Mollie Keller creates calligraphic riffs that are part of her ongoing attempt to describe three dimensional gestures in two dimensions. According to the artist, she was born during the reign of Abstract Expressionism, educated at MOMA and the Met, inspired by Joan Mitchell and Hans Memling. She balances “a desire for order and detail with a passion for big messy splashes of delicious color and working on how to achieve both.” She recently noted, “I have been playing with calligraphy, exploding and rearranging words, investigating the essence of each stroke of a letter, and wondering about the possibilities of black and white.”
Toby Michaels allows the Abstract Expressionist movement to inspire her recent work. She studies the Muses, their philosophy, intentions and visual style. She is now a full-time artist affiliated with the Westport Arts Center Artist Collaborative, Silvermine Guild of Art and is represented in the Westport Schools’ Permanent Art Collection. While working as an elementary art teacher in Westport and Darien, she received her Master’s Degree in Art Therapy and Counseling. She initiated an Art Therapy program in Norwalk’s Hospital of Psychiatry where she practiced for 17 years. She worked with therapy groups in Silver Hill Hospital and was an adjunct professor of Art Therapy at Quinnipiac College.
Florence Zolan creates mixed media works combining printmaking, collage, paint, pastel, and often applied objects and yarns. The relationship of shapes and colors inform her abstract compositions with references to the natural world. Florence is a founding member of Art/Place Gallery. Her early studies were at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon. In NYC, art studies continued at Pratt Manhattan Graphic Center and The New School, where she studied with Richard Poussette-Dart and John Ross. She received her MFA at Hunter College studying with Tony Smith. Zolan taught school in New Rochelle and night print classes at The Museum of Modern Art with Sol Lewitt. She is an artist member of Silvermine Guild. She has exhibited statewide in juried and invitational exhibits and is represented in corporate and private collections throughout the US. Zolan is on the curatorial committee of the Kershner Gallery at the Fairfield Public Library.
The art reception is free and open to the public. The exhibition runs through Thursday, June 30. The majority of the works are available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the library. Wilton Library is located at 137 Old Ridgefield Road in the heart of Wilton Center. Library hours are Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. through June 12 and closed on Sundays for the summer months beginning June 19. For information and directions, visit www.wiltonlibrary.org or call 203-762-6334.