OPENING RECEPTION: APRIL 10, 5:30 - 8:00 pm

Patricia Ames		Claudine Burns-Smith
Phillip Chambers		Roberta Chambers
Francine Curto		Carole Dubielle
Joseph Higgins		Linda Horning
Bob Keating		Cathy Valley

Rita Valley

Exhibition: April 10 - 30, 2010
Hours: Mon & Sat 10 - 5, Tues--Thurs 10 - 8.

Guest curator: Johnes Ruta http://azothgallery.com/ azothgallery@comcast.net
Contact: Joseph Higgins: 203.996.5185

PATRICIA AMES
"I use a mix of textiles and acrylics to create dramatic portraits, combining a loose style with a sense of humor to give these pet portraits a whimsical quality."

Patricia Ames studied sculpture and painting at Middlesex Community College. She also pursued independent study with sculptor James Caudle and painter Lennie Moskowitz. In 2004, Patricia joined fellow artists Lucinda Gray, Margaret Moore, and Francine Curto to form the Cedar Swamp Artist Group.

ROBERTA CHAMBERS
"I'm intrigued with using textiles in unexpected ways -- as paper, photographic paper, skin, posters, cards, and in ways there are no words for yet."

Roberta Chambers is an artist, and a designer of textiles, costumes, sets, and sound stages. She has shown her work at ArtPark Whitneyville, Artspace Gallery, the John Slade Ely House, Erector Square Gallery, Wave Gallery, the Moira Fitzsimmons Arons Gallery at Hamden Hall, the Channel 8 March of Arts Festival, the Building Wrapping Art Festival at
Gateway Center, the PMVI shows at the Clock Factory, the Green Gallery in Guiford, and the New Haven Women's AIDS Coalition Art Show. Her costume and set designs have shown at Shakespeare on the Green, the New Haven Arts Council "Human Float" for New Haven's 350th birthday, Take Notice Dance Company, Performance Studio, Theatricide, The Buy and Sell, and the Love/Money Show at Erector Square.

PHILLIP CHAMBERS
"I was born in Australia in the early 1950s. I traveled the world in the early 1970s, and settled in Connecticut in 1975. I"ve been involved with the art movement in the States for many yearsand have been in many shows. I like working with pen and ink drawing, and consider myself an illustrator of short stories that I've written myself.

"In this show at the New Haven Library there will be two of my illustrated books. One book is called "Mailman walkit"and the other book consists of drawings of toys."

FRANCINE CURTO
"Art has been the one and only constant sane part of my life..." Francine Curto speaks of her art as "poetry for the eye, therapy for the spirit, and love for the heart." She studied art techniques privately with some of the leading artists in Connecticut: sculpture with Jim Caudle, pastels with Joann Ballinger, watercolor with Frank Constantine and Judith Campbell. She has shown he work at The Brick Gallery and the Essex Art Association in Essex, CT, the Tip Top Gallery, Pattsburg, NY, at Golden Street Gallery, New London, and at Chester Open Gallery Night.

JOSEPH HIGGINS
"Working in abstract imagery is a natural avenue for me. It is a broad place, flowing nicely with my artistic process, which allows me freedom of expression. My paintings rely on natural rhythms. The intricacy of detail evokes an experience unique to each viewer. I try to create, through depth of spiritual space, an environment that allows travel into the image. As people see, arrange, and resolve my pictures according to their own ideas, I am able to share a part of my artistic experience.

Higgins invented his method of amorphous painting on 4" square ceramic surfaces in 1990, using only paint, brushes, and water. He attended the University of Massachusetts at Boston where he studied literature, and apprenticed with the Beacon Hill Artisans. He is a founding member of the Edwards Street Collective.

CATHY VALLEY
"Most of my paintings and collages have to do with statues and garden environments. I've also been exploring underwater objects and materializing otherworldly visions!

Cathy Valley attended the Swain School of Design in New Bedford, MA. She went on to receive a BA in Psychology from Southern Connecticut State University, and an MS in Marriage & Family Therapy from Central Connecticut State University. Cathy is a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist.