Fairfield, CT - Elisa Contemporary Art is pleased to present “A Visual Taste of Fairfield County”, a pop-up art exhibit featuring the Art and Artists highlighted in the 2019 Culinary Restaurant book, Entrée Nous. The exhibit will open on August 1 at the Fairfield University Bookstore (where the book is sold) and will run through August 30, 2019. The exhibit will feature Elisa Contemporary Art Salon (Fairfield) alongside artists Nina Bentley (Westport), Carole Eisner (Weston), Cynthia MacCollum (New Canaan) and Dale Najarian (Westport).
Entrée Nous is an insider’s guide to the creative visions and flavors of Fairfield County including Food and in the 2019 edition, Art! Now in its fourth year, Entrée Nous, is a popular Connecticut restaurant guide featuring vivid descriptions of twelve unique and memorable cuisines together with a complimentary meal at each restaurant! This delicious guide, Entrée NousTM is perfect for both area newcomers and diners with discerning palates. During our art exhibit opening reception, we will have a raffle for one book (a value of $53!) and the 2019 edition will be available for sale.
The exhibit will highlight a range of creative visions including vintage typewriter sculptures by Nina Bentley, new Cityscape shadow series by Dale Najarian, a mixed media work on paper using real flowers by Cynthia MacCollum and two 1980 Acrylic paintings by Carole Eisner. Elisa Contemporary Art will present the limited edition Candy and Toy Mandalas by Atlanta artist, Paula Brett.
What: “A Visual Taste of Fairfield County” – a Pop Up Art Exhibit of artists/gallery featured in 2019 Entrée Nous
When: August 1-30, 2019 Special Events:
• Opening Reception, Friday August 2 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm Where: Fairfield University Bookstore, 1499 Post Road, Fairfield, CT Hours: Monday – Saturday 9am – 9pm, Sunday 10-6pm
Website: www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com
About the Artists:
Nina Bentley
According to Westport artist, Nina Bentley, "Many events have influenced me as an artist, growing up in Brooklyn, having a father who was an Italian anarchist, a mother who worked; being a cheerleader in the 1950's, a history major at college, a writer of advertising copy, a designer of department store window displays, a mother, a corporate wife; living fifteen years in Europe, becoming a grandmother - now many times over. All of these experiences have left their mark and occasioned reflection...The result of my introspection and insights are in my art. I hope this work speaks to some of its viewers."
In 1962 she graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in English, later studying art at the Brooklyn Museum Art School and Chelsea Art School, London. Married young, she moved around the world with her husband, then an international banker, living in Bologna, Frankfurt, London, Zurich, Santiago, and Caracas.
Bentley began exhibiting in 1965 and has enjoyed sixteen solo exhibitions, here and abroad, since 1978. An inveterate collector of ”stuff,” Bentley makes art from anything and everything. She deliberately juxtaposes objects whose scale, textures, or categories of use combine to make statements, at once biting and humorous, about the human condition. Her work is in collections throughout the world
Carole Eisner
Carole Eisner has worked with scrap and recycled metal for 40 years creating elegant, abstract forms welded in steel. The artist’s compositions reflect the surprising malleability she finds with metal. She works with “the debris of our civilization,” reclaiming and reassembling disregarded fragments of buildings and bridges into art. Eisner’s longevity as an artist is a testament to the natural marriage between her monumental outdoor sculptures and the climate of public spaces. Eisner received a BFA from Syracuse University. A life-long New Yorker, the artist splits her time between New York City and Weston, Connecticut.
According to Connecticut painter and printmaker, Cynthia MacCollum, "I find inspiration in fragments of nature held close for reflection. I employ a personal vocabulary of fluid marks and organic imagery to express the sensual pleasure and ephemeral quality of the natural world. Within this realm, my work varies from representational to abstract, and I am continuously moving along the continuum between the two."
Her work has been exhibited and collected throughout the world since 2010. She received her BA from Washington University in St. Louis and continued her art education at Fashion Institute of Technology (NY), Santa Reparata International School of Art (Florence, Italy) and Center for Contemporary Printmaking (Norwalk, CT). Her studio is located in New Canaan, CT.
Dale Najarian
Dale Najarian received her BFA from Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia. She began painting in 1998. Her latest Shadow Series merges the realistic quality of a photograph with the abstract translation of a landscape to depict a dreamlike painting that draws you in. Dale is fascinated by the perspective that shadows create in our daily lives, and uses people’s movements to capture the ever changing relationship between dark and light.
She is also proud of the recent work she created for #UNLOAD, a non profit which uses the arts to drive engagement and broaden the coalition of people fighting to end gun violence.
Her work has been shown and collected throughout the US and she is currently showing in the UK. She currently works in her studio in Westport, CT.
Elisa Contemporary Art
Elisa Contemporary Art represents a portfolio of emerging through mid-career contemporary artists. Founded in 2007 by Lisa Cooper, Elisa Contemporary Art is dedicated to promoting the appreciation and collection of art as a way to enrich and heal our lives, our communities, and the world.
Elisa Contemporary Art www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com Lisa@ElisaArt.com 212.729.4974
The Riverdale NY Gallery opened in 2008. The Art Salon in Fairfield CT opened in May 2017 (open by appointment only and featuring over 30 artists).
Elisa Contemporary Art has participated in international art fairs in New York, Miami and the Hamptons. We have curated over 40 art exhibits in public and private spaces in the Tri-State area.
We also believe in the power of giving back, and donate a portion of gallery sales to philanthropic organizations that help children and families within underserved communities heal and grow through their experience with art. We support Free Arts NYC, and The Art Therapy Project.
Elisa Contemporary Art has been featured in a number of publications including Fairfield Magazine, Ocean Home Magazine, Hamptons Cottages & Gardens, CT Cottages & Gardens Design Guide, New England Home – CT, New York Spaces and The New York Times. For additional information, visit www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com