Lots to See in April
By William J. Adelman, Jr.
The month of April has been filled with art events. We managed to get to three exhibits and participate in a fourth. It has been a period of great activity. I am amazed to see the extent and quality of work now being done by my fellow artists on the Upper Cape.
The Cataumet Arts Center presented new works of art by Bourne Junior and Senior High School students. When I walked into the gallery to see these works, their fine designs and colors immediately struck me. While all the individual works were noteworthy, I will comment on those few that especially caught my eye. This show will continue through April 25 at 76 Scraggy Neck Road in Cataumet Village.
Sarah Fuller exhibits a fine black and white chalk drawing of a girl with her hands stuffed in her jacket pockets. This life drawing is both precise and quite expressive. Bravo! Janni Maki has on display two fine drawings. One of a fanciful dragon shows fine design and color. The other is most imaginative.
Jen Davis displays a well-composed and drawn still life done in colored chalks. Jen Griffith's still life of a watercolor set shows great mastery of transparent watercolor technique. Mikala G. exhibits another fine still life painting of a set of drawing and painting materials.
Eric Chapman's watercolor of fish bubbles and shells is very imaginative with an extraordinary design. Sara Smith exhibits an exceptionally fine ceramic head with an open mouth. This mature sculpture gets my award for Best in Show. The most amusing work in the show is Ryan Collins' Picasso-like portrait. Bravo, Ryan, for bringing modern art to the Cape. Regina Kyle's Art Gallery is located at 669 Main Street in Falmouth. The art of two special women artists is now featured through May 2, 2004. Sue Beardsley is one of the finest assemblage sculptors in New England. Several of these provocative pieces are in this show. However, I was especially taken by her new works in stained glass. One of these fine pieces was done in Antarctica while accompanying her husband on a WHOI expedition.
Sheryl Seyfert exhibits several paintings that evoke a feeling of nostalgia for the happy times and people that are the subjects of her works. I especially liked "Wonder Woman and the Saint." In this work a boy and a girl are seen playing on a beach. The girl wears a wonder woman towel and carries a beach ball decorated as a globe. The boy stands silhouetted against the sun, which gives him a halo. This show also exhibits a fine collage by Regina Kyle, herself. "Dreams Sail on Ptolemy's Sea" features pieces of handmade oriental papers and cut up pieces of a Ptolemy map of the Mediterranean Sea.
For the past several years the Falmouth Artists' Guild puts up an abstract art show. This year there are several works in the show that I especially liked. Gayle Reynolds "Contained" is an intricate acrylic painting with a knockout design and brilliant colors. My Best in Show award goes to Georgiana Holmes for her monoprint "Waves." Ms. Holmes has a unique style and a fierce honesty toward her work.
Noreen Greetham's "Birth" is another fine work with peach, blue, and mauve colors. Joan Donelan's acrylic painting "Navajo Tango" combines the designs of native North America with the hot colors of South America.
Francis Hersey's linoprint is one of the few minimalist works in the show in that it takes a shore view to its most abstract limit. Bravo! Betty Carroll Fuller's "Seed Pods" is an acrylic and mixed media of mystical intensity. Kathy Zens Twombly's "November" uses oil paint with collaged scraps of canvas to create two deep red color fields separated by two diagonal stripes.
On Saturday, April 17, 2004 Jan Collins Selman Fine Art, 317 Main Street, Falmouth, opened a spring group show. This exhibit features paintings by Sean Boyce, Robert Weinstein, Ryan Young, Jan Collins Selman and yours truly. The show will run until May 1, 2004. This is an interesting show featuring contrasting styles: an expressionist (Boyce), an abstractionist (Weinstein), a photo realist (Young), a landscape expressive realist (Selman), and a social realist (Adelman). Many of these works may be seen on the Internet at www.jancollinsselman.com.