AzothGallery.com Michael Meier 1618 "Hic est Draco caudam  suam devorans"
 



Johnes Ruta, writer, ¨Mercurator¨
Independent Curator & Art Theorist.

Exhibition Archive 2017 ~ present

 
 
 
Past monthly exhibition venues
 
 
 
 

EXPLORATIONS-OF-VISIONARY-DIMENSIONS
A Group Art Exhibit by:

Hannah Petrikovsky
Eduardo Alvarez
Dana Baldwin Naumann

The Naumann Gallery
279 Branford Road
North Branford, CT 06471
(203) 430-2179

Meet the Artist Reception: Sunday, November 3, 2024, 3:00 - 6:00 pm.

Curated by Johnes Ruta

click here for a single printable page

 
 
Hannah Petrikovsky - ANGRY JACK - acrylic on canvas, 40.5" x 30.5"
 
 

Hannah Petrikovsky - Peas and Carrots - oil on wood, 48" x 36"

 

Hannah Petrikovsky combines oil paint and charcoal to create aesthetically lush, vivid paintings which explore
themes of beauty and impermanence. She exhibited in a group show at Lyme Academy and two group shows
at the Richard and Dolly Maas Gallery. She has her BFA in Lyme Academy of Fine Arts and has an MFA and MA
from SUNY Purchase. She lives in Hamden with her family.

Until recently, Ms. Petrikovsky has been Adjunct Professor of Fine Art and History "Exploring Visual Culture"
at Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, CT, 2021 to the present. In January, following a maternity
leave-of-absence, she will take up a similar position at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven.

Previoiusly, she was Adjunct Professor of Art History and Art Design at SUNY Purchase College, NY, 2018-2022,
and Sacred Heart University, 2023, and Gateway Community College, 2022. She had a Strypemonde Fellowship
at the Art History Department, SUNY Purchase College, 2020-2021. Since 2022, she has been a Painting
Instructorat Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven. Her artwork has been shown frequently at at Richard & Dolly
Maass Gallery, Purchase; also at Casa Somati, Pomona, NY, Essex Flowers Gallery, New York City, and Chauncey Silliman Gallery, Old Lyme.

http://www.chanarosaart.com/

 
 
Hannah Petrikovsky - The New Birdfeeder - acrylic on canvas, 54" x 37"
   
 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 
 

Eduardo Alvarez - Pannonica - acrylic on canvas, 30" x 48"

"I am a visual artist living and working in New Haven, Connecticut," says Eduardo Alvarez. "The focus of each
piece is to delve within oneself and let go of everything and completely surrender. Art brings you face to face
with yourself and shows you that although the inner struggle is sometimes wrapped in silk or sorrow, we emerge
beautiful despite it all."

Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Literature, Graduated 2006, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT.
His artworks have been exhibited in more than 30 venues in the US and Europe, most recently at Koffee? in
New Haven.

2015 Mapiya on permanent display Yale Native American Cultural Center

2022 Visceral Art Exhibition Milan/Barcelona/Canary Islands

2024 Best in Show The Crossing Hygienic Art Gallery

 
 
Eduardo Alvarez - bondad no hace ruido - acrylic on canvas, 28" x 40"


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 
 
  Dana Baldwin Naumann - She Just Came to Me - 30lb wall scu;pture, 18" x 18"
 
Dana Baldwin Naumann

Dana Baldwin Naumann creates unique sculpture using mainly lead sheets coated with copper or zinc patinas.
His hammer?ed sculptures are studies in texture, soft and warm looking even as metal surfaces
and often depicting religious, mythic, and archetypal scenes.

He had a successful career in corporate sales and marketing with IBM, Wang, Mitsubushi, and Westinghouse.
When he left the corporate world, he was determined to devote his life
to his art. It was a decision Naumann says he has never regretted.

Dana Naumann designed and contributed sculptures to the permanent collection of United States Special Olympics,
and a piece created with the theme of the Holocaust was given to the Thomas Dodd Center, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.
His artworks have been shown widely in Connecticut and the northeast.

Art critic Steve Starger wrote about his work: "Naumann's finely wrought sculptures aren't depressing or oppressive.
He draws on African and mythological references to create monolithic faces that are inspired by ritual masks and statuary,
like monuments or totems left by a long-vanished civilization. These elongated faces appear aloof and ascetic,
but are also strangely poignant, and each emanates a sense of mystery and longing."

 
 
Dana Baldwin Naumann - There is Someting Wonderful About Just Holding Hands - 80lb wall sculpture 36x36"
 
 
  Dana Baldwin Naumann - The Thought Just Came to Me -35lb wall sculpture, 18" x 18"
 

Exhibition on view: October 27 - November 30, 2024 By Appointment


Contacts:
Gallerist: Dana Naumann
203.430.2179
dbnaumann@yahoo.com

Curator: Johnes Ruta https://AzothGallery.com/
iPhone 203.668.6933
azothgallery@comcast.net
independent curator & art theorist

 
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Prints From the Underground (after Dostoevsky)
Engravings, Silkscreens, and Woodcuts
by Allan Greenier

In the Meeting Room of the
Mitchell Branch New Haven Free Public Library
37 Harrison Street, WESTVILLE, CT 06515

Curated by Johnes Ruta

Meet the Artist Reception: Hallowe'en Thursday, October 31, 2024, 4:00 - 6:00 pm

PLEASE NOTE:
A raffle will be held during the reception on Halloween night.
The winner will win the print of their choice.

PLEASE see Brian Slattery's Article in the New Haven Indepenent:
https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/mitchell_library_oct_2024


click here for a single printable page

 
 
Allan Greenier - AFTER THE STORM
Corian engraving, 3.25" x 5.5"
 
  Allan Greenier has been a printmaker since 2010. To put "bread on the table" he enjoyed two careers:
20 years as a pre-press employee in printing companies, and 30 years as a software developer. Both
careers inform his printmaking practice.

As a younger man Allan wrote, drew and published "underground" comix. He continues to publish
zines and prints as The Useful Knowledge Press. He enjoys all printmaking techniques - wood
engraving, woodcuts, etchings, silkscreens, lithographs and monotypes. He likes to combine
these techniques.
  <>
  Video camera: Ernst W. & Johnes Ruta



Allan Greenier -- KARLOFF -- woodcut, 30" x 24"

 

Artist Statement

When we impress ink onto paper we are taking part in an ancient form of communication.
I still get excited at the "reveal" of a print, when we peel paper off the plate and see
our creation for the first time.

In 2010 the New Britain Museum of American Art held a show M. C. Escher's art.
I had always loved his work, I never realized they were all prints. The masterpieces in that show
inspired me to become a printmaker. I visited the exhibit 5 times. During one of those visits,
I thought: "I need to think of a subject that can be expressed in black and white."
Then I looked down at my Converse sneakers!



Allan Greenier -- Thank You Maurits -- woodcut, 8" x 10"

 

 

 
Allan Greenier -- Ildy -- woodcut, 6.5" x 9"

 

 
 
Allan Greenier -- UNTITLED ORANGE MAN -- digital print, 9.5" x 9.25"
 
 
 

Allan Greenier -- SUGAR SHACK -- Silkscreen, 10" x 7.75"

   
 
Exhibition on view: October 1 - November 30, 2024

Curator: Johnes Ruta, AzothGallery.com 203-668-6933 azothgallery@comcast.net

Library Branch Manager: Marian Huggins mhuggins@nhfpl.org

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The Intricate Dance of Beauty and Form
A Group Art Exhibit by:

Linda Dempsey
John Arabolos
Dana Baldwin Naumann

The Naumann Gallery
279 Branford Road
North Branford, CT 06471
(203) 430-2179

Meet the Artist Reception: Saturday, September 7, 5:00 - 7:00 pm.

Curated by Johnes Ruta

 
 
 
 
Linda Dempsey - The Magical World: Milkweed, Butterflies, and Fireflies -garden-series,
Encaustic, oil, and Gold Leaf on wood panel, 18" x 24"
 
<>
 
 
Linda Dempsey - GEO GODDESS
Encaustic, ink, and metallic ink on cardboard, 11" x 14"
 

Linda Dempsey - Artist Statement

As a visual artist, I work with Encaustic, Painting, Drawing, and Mixed Media. After earning a
BFA in Illustration from Southern Connecticut State University in 1990, I moved to NYC to
immerse myself in a vibrant artistic community, pursuing a career in illustration, fine art,
teaching, and consulting.

Seventeen years in the East Village exposed me to a rich tapestry of art and culture, providing
numerous opportunities to exhibit my work in small galleries. However, the confines of my tiny
NYC apartment eventually led me to seek more space for creative exploration. In 2007, I
relocated to a larger seaside home in Newport, RI. This move allowed me to learn and perfect
the techniques of encaustic painting, benefiting from the necessary space and ventilation this
medium requires.


 
 
Linda Dempsey - ASASE YAA
Encaustic, Collage with handmade papers, 11" x 15"
 
 
In 2014, I moved to another seaside town, New Bedford, Massachusetts, where I completed a graduate degree in Art Education
at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. This period deepened my understanding of art and its pedagogical aspects,
enriching my practice. In 2021, I accepted an art teaching position in New Haven, bringing my journey full circle as I
returned to Connecticut. Here, I continue to teach and create, merging my experiences into a cohesive artistic narrative.

My studio is open to visitors and clients by appointment. All of my work is available for sale, commissions are welcome,
and giclée prints of many pieces are available.

Through my art, I explore the intricate dance between beauty and destruction, capturing the delicate balance of our natural
world and reflecting on the human condition. Utilizing the transformative qualities of light and the versatile medium of
encaustic, I consider the depths and contradictions of existence, seeking to reveal the transient magic in both nature and
our shared experience.

 
 
Linda Dempsey - Sea Sirens
Drawing on Nautical Chart, Collage and Glaze, 12”w x 24”h

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 
 
John Arabolos - FABRIC OF LIFE - SERIES 8, QUADRANT 4,
Hi-resolution Fractal digital photo on aluminum, 14" x 14"
 

John Arabolos

John Arabolos is an Assistant Professor in the Interior Design and Pre-Architecture Program within the Department of Art and Design
at the University of New Haven. He holds an M.F.A., Pratt Institute of Design, Brooklyn, NY and B.A., Hartford Art School,
The University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT He is responsible for the coordination and instruction of technical drawing, inclusive of
Architectural Drawing, Construction Documents, Paraline, and Perspective Drawing. He also teaches Codes for Interiors, Professional
Practices for Interior Designers and the upper division studios including; Furniture Design and Interior Design lll, which explores ADA
(American Disabilities Act) and Ageing in Place code applications. In 2006 he was appointed as a "Professional Interior Designer
and Artist in Residence". John is the current Interior Design faculty advisor to the Student Chapter of ASID (American Society of
Interior Designers). He has been nominated by his students eight times in five years for "Who’s Who in Teaching".

 
 
John Arabolos - Fabric of life Series –
Morpho Rhetenor, L-4 extended
,
Hi-resolution Fractal digital photo on aluminum, 24" x 24"
 
 
<>
 
 
 
John Arabolos - Fabric of Life Series #2, Matrix #1, graphics on aluminum, 42" x 42"
 
John Arabolos - Euphydryasphaeton DMPR-1X1, graphics on aluminum 36" x 36"

************************************************************************************************
 
  Dana Baldwin Naumann - She Just Came to Me - 30lb wall scu;pture, 18" x 18"
 
Dana Baldwin Naumann

Dana Baldwin Naumann creates unique sculpture using mainly lead sheets coated with copper or zinc patinas.
His hammer?ed sculptures are studies in texture, soft and warm looking even as metal surfaces
and often depicting religious, mythic, and archetypal scenes.

He had a successful career in corporate sales and marketing with IBM, Wang, Mitsubushi, and Westinghouse.
When he left the corporate world, he was determined to devote his life
to his art. It was a decision Naumann says he has never regretted.

Dana Naumann designed and contributed sculptures to the permanent collection of United States Special Olympics,
and a piece created with the theme of the Holocaust was given to the Thomas Dodd Center, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.
His artworks have been shown widely in Connecticut and the northeast.

Art critic Steve Starger wrote about his work: "Naumann's finely wrought sculptures aren't depressing or oppressive.
He draws on African and mythological references to create monolithic faces that are inspired by ritual masks and statuary,
like monuments or totems left by a long-vanished civilization. These elongated faces appear aloof and ascetic,
but are also strangely poignant, and each emanates a sense of mystery and longing."

 
 
Dana Baldwin Naumann - There is Someting Wonderful About Just Holding Hands - 80lb wall sculpture 36x36"
 
 
<>
 
 
  Dana Baldwin Naumann - The Thought Just Came to Me -35lb wall sculpture, 18" x 18"
 

Exhibition on view: July 3 - August 7, 2024


Contacts:
Gallerist: Dana Naumann
203.430.2179
dbnaumann@yahoo.com

Curator: Johnes Ruta https://AzothGallery.com/
iPhone 203.668.6933
azothgallery@comcast.net
independent curator & art theorist

 
****************************************************************************************************************
 
 
  UNTOLD TALES

Artworks by Ralph Levesque

In the Meeting Room of the
Mitchell Branch New Haven Free Public Library
37 Harrison Street, WESTVILLE, CT 06515

Curated by Johnes Ruta

Meet the Artist Reception: Saturday August 24, 2024, 2:00 - 4:00 pm

Art Review in the NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT by Brian Slattery:
https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/mitchell_library_show_aug_2024


click here for a single printable page

 
Ralph Levesque CERES CRIES acrylic on canvas, 18" x 18"



Ralph Levesque PEYOTE DREAM acrylic on canvas, 11" x 14"

 

 

Ralph Levesque is an artist, art teacher and the former gallerist of Equilibrium Gallery. He has a BFA and Masters Degree
in Art Education, from the University of Bridgeport, and a teaching certificate from Southern CT State University.

Artist Statement ~ Ralph Levesque

"I am a romantic visual poet, aware that all designs and symbols are inspired by the Natural. Therefore, I am not concerned with
producing copied images. I seek to find beauty within the concrete, behind the material level. Instinctively and unconsciously,
I seek the essence of "Universal Beauty," the intrinsic force of all.The reality of matter is always moving, changing, evolving
and becoming anew.

"I work basically with acrylics and mixed media -- sometimes incorporating collage elements -- some recycled from earlier
works or from scraps left over from experiments with various materials and methods of painting. I use airbrush as well
as paint brushes and knives, and other instruments.

"At times faces appear visibly in my works and sometimes appear hidden.
A viewer should stop - look- and "read" over these pieces. -- Sometimes surprises appear!"

~ Ralph Levesque

http://ralphlevesqueart.com/



Ralph Levesque ON THE LAST EVE acrylic on canvas, 21" x 21"

 

 
Ralph Levesque DREAM CHANT acrylic on canvas, 18" x 18"
 
Exhibition on view: August 5 - September 30, 2024

Curator: Johnes Ruta, AzothGallery.com 203-668-6933 azothgallery@comcast.net

Library Branch Manager: Marian Huggins mhuggins@nhfpl.org

 
   
 
 
 
Triangulations in the Natural World

Artworks by Rebekah L. Fraser

In the Gallery Room of the
Woodbridge Town Library
10 Newton Road, WOODBRIDGE, CT 06525
Location: click to display map

Meet the Artist Reception: Thursday, August 8th, 2024, 5:00 to 7:00 pm.

Exhibition: August 1 to 31, 2024

Curated by Johnes Ruta, https://AzothGallery.com/

 
 
Rebekah L. Fraser - Words Emerge From the Sea of Consciusness - acrylic on canvas, 13" x 13"
 

Rebekah L. Fraser is a multi-media artist, working in prose, trash fashion, painting, and mixed media. Through art, Fraser explores the dynamics of interpersonal relations and the triangulation between humans, their possessions, and the natural world. She is particularly fascinated with the parallels between the dismantling of Earth and the built environment through climate change; and the dismantling of our social fabric as seen through the dissolution of family, community, and societal structures.

 
 
Rebekah L. Fraser - Untitled - acrylic on canvas, 40" x 16"
 
 
Works shown here are part of an expansive body of work begun in 2019 titled Control & Release.
Through both theme and method, the artist explores the ideas of maintaining and releasing control
both in life and in creative self-expression, while highlighting the iridescent nature of all experiences.

When not making art, Fraser is writing romance novels with environmental themes, which she publishes
as Tara L.Roí, or teaching writing.

More at http://linktr.ee/RebekahLFraser

 
Rebekah L. Fraser - SACRED - acrylic on canvas, 25" x 25" x 1"
 
 
Rebekah Fraser - ERASURE EMERGING - acrylic on canvas, 24" x 10"
 
 
 
Exhibition on view: August 1 to 31, 2024

Contact -- Curator: Johnes Ruta
iPhone 203.668.6933
azothgallery@comcast.net
independent curator & art theorist
https://AzothGallery.com/

Woodbridge Town Library
Donna Faryna, Adult Services Librarian 203.389.3466
dfaryna@woodbridgetownlibrary.org

 
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MIRRAGE 'A TROIS

A Group Art Exhibit by:

Katia Jirankova Levanti
Arthur Guagliumi
Dana Baldwin Naumann

The Naumann Gallery
279 Branford Road
North Branford, CT 06471
(203) 430-2179

Meet the Artist Reception: Thursday, July 11, 2024, 5:00 - 7:00 pm.
Closing Reception: Wednesday, September 7, 2024, 4:30 - 7:00 pm.

Curated by Johnes Ruta

 
 
Katia Jirankova Levanti - AQUARIANS - oil on canvas, 40"h x 40”w
 
 
Katia Jirankova Levanti - COSMICAL HARVEST - oil on canvas, 30"h x 40”w
 
 

Katia Jirankova Levanti has been permanently in travel between two continents since 2007,
living between the Atlantic coast in Connecticut and in Prague, Czech Republic. Under the title “Subconsciounalism”
(channeling the subconscious journey) she has exhibited in Prague, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Florida, Massachusetts,
Denver, CO., New York, Nashville, TN., and is represented in many private collections throughout
America and Europe. Her book of paintings is part of the library of the Carl Jung Institute in New York.

“I came up with the title “Subconsciounalism” when I tried to describe the process of my intuitive painting,
which in a certain state of meditation brings you to the spheres of universal memory and touches moments
and dimensions in the existence of the Universe, and its various beings. During my studies of philosophies,
mythologies, comparative religions, cosmology, and quantum physics I am discovering in my paintings fragments
of this living mosaic.”

https://www.katia-jirankova-levanti.com/

 
 
Katia Jirankova Levanti - QUICK SILVER LAKE - oil on canvas, 30"h x 36"
 
 
 
Katia Jirankova Levanti - RED LIGHT MEDITATION - oil on canvas, 36"h x 48”w
 
 
Arthur Guagliumi - BLUE PANDAEMONIUM - acrylic on foam core tiles and impasto, 27"n sq
 

Arthur Guagliumi is known for his three-dimensional assemblages. The works in mixed mediums pop off the substrate
or are built into boxes and deeper frames, often using bits and pieces of found objects. But Arthur is best known as
a professor of Art for 48 years at Southern Connecticut State University, where he brought in noteworthy area
artists by instituting revolving exhibits, with the artists’ pieces on display in two large, glass cases used
as dedicated exhibition space. He was also a visiting professor at Quinnipiac University and University of New Haven
(as well as teaching at the Guilford Art Center).

Arthur is known is his three-dimensional assemblages. The works in mixed mediums pop off the substrate
or are built into boxes and deeper frames, often using bits and pieces of found objects. "I’m always picking things up!”
he says.
In fact, his first professional pieces, in the late 1950s, were snapped up to be displayed in a gallery group
that was impressed with his assemblage work.“I started right after I graduated from college. I took my portfolio
into New York City. I hit a couple galleries and they took my work,” says Arthur, who was
taken in as a co-op member of the Second Generation 10th Street Galleries.

“They were the follow-up galleries to the first-generation galleries, which had artists like Jackson Pollock
and Franz Kline. They were in these galleries, which were co-ops, and then they got elevated to uptown galleries,”
explains Arthur. “So a lot of these galleries in the Village stayed there, and I came in at a time
when all these guys were leaving, and I got into a gallery. I was there for about five years.”

Many of the more delicate landscapes were painted in Italy during trips with his college
students in the 1990s. While in Italy, Arthur also taught painting and drawing at the University
of Urbino, Italy, for 12 summer programs as a visiting professor.
His work is part of numerous public and private collections including Waterbury’s Mattatuck Museum
and the Arthur Dow Collection at Columbia University.

 
 
Arthur Guagliumi - BODY LANGUAGE II - acrylic paste on wood, 39" x 39"
 
 
Arthur Guagliumi - PICCOLA RAGAZZE - collage on plywood 33" x 29.5"
 
Arthur Guagliumi - VENETIAN GLIMMERS - painted tiles on plywood 32" x 36"

************************************************************************************************
 
  Dana Baldwin Naumann - She Just Came to Me - 30lb wall scu;pture, 18" x 18"
 
Dana Baldwin Naumann

Dana Baldwin Naumann creates unique sculpture using mainly lead sheets coated with copper or zinc patinas.
His hammer?ed sculptures are studies in texture, soft and warm looking even as metal surfaces
and often depicting religious, mythic, and archetypal scenes.

He had a successful career in corporate sales and marketing with IBM, Wang, Mitsubushi, and Westinghouse.
When he left the corporate world, he was determined to devote his life
to his art. It was a decision Naumann says he has never regretted.

Dana Naumann designed and contributed sculptures to the permanent collection of United States Special Olympics,
and a piece created with the theme of the Holocaust was given to the Thomas Dodd Center, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.
His artworks have been shown widely in Connecticut and the northeast.

Art critic Steve Starger wrote about his work: "Naumann's finely wrought sculptures aren't depressing or oppressive.
He draws on African and mythological references to create monolithic faces that are inspired by ritual masks and statuary,
like monuments or totems left by a long-vanished civilization. These elongated faces appear aloof and ascetic,
but are also strangely poignant, and each emanates a sense of mystery and longing."

 
 
Dana Baldwin Naumann - There is Someting Wonderful About Just Holding Hands - 80lb wall sculpture 36x36"
 
  Dana Baldwin Naumann - The Thought Just Came to Me -35lb wall sculpture, 18" x 18"
 

Exhibition on view: July 3 - August 7, 2024


Contacts:
Gallerist: Dana Naumann
203.430.2179
dbnaumann@yahoo.com

Curator: Johnes Ruta https://AzothGallery.com/
iPhone 203.668.6933
azothgallery@comcast.net
independent curator & art theorist

 
****************************************************************************************************************
 
   
 
 
 

The Naumann Gallery
279 Branford Road
North Branford, CT 06471

The Naumann Gallery Presents
Sculptures by John Anthony Bright and Dana Baldwin Naumann

Curated by Johnes Ruta

ARTIST'S RECEPTION: Saturday, March 30, 2024, 4:00 to 7:00 pm

click here for a single printable page

 
 
John Anthony Bright- NATURE'S MUSICAL TRIBUTE - SACH'S SERENADE - wood and welded steel, 32" x 12" $2000
 
 
John Anthony Bright - PLIGHT OF THE POOR IMMIGRANT - mixed-media metals, 23" x 13" $2000
 
 

John Anthony Bright

Excited to share my latest artwork titled "Nature's Musical Tribute: SatchsSerenade"! This mixed media sculpture combines wood
and welded steel to create a dynamic composition that evokes the spirit of jazz legend Louis Armstrong.

The organic shapes and vibrant colors in this piece create a sense of movement and rhythm.
Come see it in person and experience the beauty of nature's tribute to music. #art #sculpture #nature #music #inspiration

 
 
John Anthony Bright - ALLEN IN CHAINS - mixed-media metals 24" x 16" $2000
************************************************************************************************
 
  Dana Baldwin Naumann - Lightning Strikes - 40lb wall sculpture -12x18"
 
Dana Baldwin Naumann

DANA BALDWIN NAUMANN creates fanciful and fabulous sculpture, crafted from lead sheets coated
with copper or zinc patinas. His hammer?ed sculptures are studies in texture, soft and warm-looking
even though metal surfaces. Naumann had successful executive marketing careers with Westinghouse,
and IBM, but in 1994 he decided to devote his life to his art, a decision he's never regretted.

He's contributed sculptures to the permanent collections of the US Special Olympics, a piece on the Holocaust
to the Thomas Dodd Center at UCONN, and to the New Haven Aids Project. His works have been shown
at Art Expo NYC, Gallerie Michele Washington DC, and the Vital Gallery in Hawaii.

Art critic Steve Starger wrote: "Naumann's finely wrought sculptures aren't depressing or oppressive.
He draws on African and mythological references to create monolithic faces that are inspired by
ritual masks and statuary, like totems left from a long-vanished civilization. Elongated faces appear aloof
and ascetic, but are also strangely poignant, and each emanates a sense of mystery and longing."

 
 
Dana Baldwin Naumann - There is Someting Wonderful About Just Holding Hands - 80lb wall sculpture 36x36"
 
 
Dana Baldwin Naumann - The Baby - 40lb wall sculpture - 12x12"
 

Naumann Gallery -- Dana Naumann and John Anthony Bright
Questions and Answers
<>

Exhibition on view: March 13 - June 15, 2024


Contacts:
Gallerist: Dana Naumann
203.430.2179
dbnaumann@yahoo.com

Curator: Johnes Ruta https://AzothGallery.com/
iPhone 203.668.6933
azothgallery@comcast.net
independent curator & art theorist

 
****************************************************************************************************************
 

From the Earth: growth, decay, and regeneration

A two-person art exhibit:
Hannah Petrikovsky & Leah Caroline

In the Gallery Room of the
Woodbridge Town Library
10 Newton Road, off Racebrook/Center Road, Route 114
WOODBRIDGE, CT 06525

Artists Reception: Thursday, February 8, 2024

Curated by Johnes Ruta

 
Hannah Petrikovsky - THE BIRDCAGE - oil on canvas, 48" x 10"
 
 
Leah Caroline - Photon Painting - cyanotype 1135 x 600cm
 
 

ARTIST STATEMENT - Hannah Petrikovsky

Hannah Petrikovsky combines oil paint and charcoal to create aesthetically lush, vivid paintings
which explore themes of beauty and impermanence. She exhibited in a group show at Lyme Academy
and two group shows at the Richard and Dolly Maas Gallery. She has her BFA in Lyme Academy of Fine Arts
and has an MFA and MA from SUNY Purchase. She lives in Hamden with her family.

Hannah Petrikovsky is an Adjunct Professor of Fine Art and History "Exploring Visual Culture" at Eastern Connecticut State University,
Willimantic, CT, 2021 to the present. She was Adjunct Professor of Art History and Art Design at SUNY Purchase College, NY, 2018-2022,
and Sacred Heart University, 2023, and Gateway Community College, 2022. She had a Strypemonde Fellowship at the Art History Department,
SUNY Purchase College, 2020-2021. Since 2022, she has been a Painting Instructor at Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven.
Her artwork has been shown frequently at at Richard & Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase; also at Casa Somati, Pomona, NY,
Essex Flowers Gallery, New York City, and Chauncey Silliman Gallery, Old Lyme.

http://www.chanarosaart.com/

 
<>
 
Video Camera: Johnes Ruta
 
Hannah Petrikovsky - THEIR DESIRE TO DESTROY IS DEAD SERIOUS - collage and ink on paper, 36" x 42"
 
 
  Hannah Petrikovsky - CYCLOPS HORSE - collage and paint on paper, 24" x 18"
 
 
  Hannah Petrikovsky - WAITING TO BE FED - oil and charcoal on paper, 23" x 31"
 
  ARTIST STATEMENT - Leah Caroline

My works are personal and communal journals. “I have come to my garden” is a series of cyanotype scrolls, c ontaining Hebrew texts from Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs), Hasidic commentary, and my pregnancy writings. This work grew out of an odd connection with an aloe plant I wrote about in my nature writing, where it signified my experiences of pregnancy. The aloe became me and when it died over the winter I felt its loss. The very personal writings of my garden, recalled memories
of an important Chasidic text I studied in my youth—called “Basi LeGani” (“I have come to my garden”), it is based on chapter 5 of Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs).

I used photographs of the dead aloe plant, scientific drawings of pregnant wombs, and the texts to make negatives for the cyanotype prints. Cyanotype is an early
photographic printing process used to record nature and make blueprints. To make the negatives for the prints, I digitally manipulate photographs of nature,
personal writings, and Biblical and other communal texts. I arrange and layer the negatives onto chemically sensitized papers, expose them to sunlight, and
process in water. The processed papers turn a brilliant Prussian blue. Sometimes, I layer multiple printings and collage actual plant materials into the prints.
The layering of photos and text within the images, mirror the layering of my memories of nature, myself, and my community.

Henry David Thoreau said, “The only people who ever get any place interesting are the people who get lost.” One summer I was a resident artist at Weir Farm
in Wilton, CT, and I got lost. I wandered the woods, collected plants and other natural materials, and scanned the plants in various stages of life.
Once, the scanner started before I was ready and it created an image of my hand arranging some flowers. This “accident” became a more intentional
series of scans, Arrangements, where I introduced movement and my body. My wanderings (I did actually get lost in the woods) and accidents broadened
my scope of documenting, and the materials I use. And they all—materials, images, texts— become new layers in my stories.

 
 
BIO

Leah Caroline was raised in the Chassidic community of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She received her BFA from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme,
Connecticut. Her exhibits include solo exhibitions and a commission by Artspace Inc. for site-responsive work for City Wide Open Studios in New Haven, CT.
In 2017, she participated in Jerusalem Between Heaven and Earth for the Jerusalem Biennale. Caroline has been an artist in residence, including at Weir Farm
in Wilton, CT and at Governors Island with Art Kibbutz. Most recently, she co-curated the new site “Art in Jewish Sacred Spaces” for the Jewish Art Salon.
She has also written and illustrated for Chabad.org. Caroline currently lives and works in New Haven with her husband and five children.

 
 
Leah Caroline - Arrangements, Weir Farm - Archival-digital-print
 
 
https://www.leahcaroline.com/

Exhibition on view: February 2 to 29, 2024

Contact -- Curator: Johnes Ruta https://AzothGallery.com/
iPhone 203.668.6933
azothgallery@comcast.net
independent curator & art theorist

Woodbridge Town Library
Donna Faryna, Adult Services Librarian 203.389.3466
dfaryna@woodbridgetownlibrary.org

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  INVISIBLE BIRDSONG, WHISPERING WINDS, LUMINOUS CLOUDS

Artworks by Jill Harrington Nichols

In the Meeting Room of the
Mitchell Branch New Haven Free Public Library
37 Harrison Street, WESTVILLE, CT 06515

Curated by Johnes Ruta

Meet the Artist Reception: Saturday January 27, 2024, 2:00 - 4:00 pm

Click here for individual printable page

 
Jill Nichols - SUMMER STORM - oil on board, 18" x 15"



Jill NIchols - BABY'S BREATH - oil on canvas 18" x 16"

 

Artist Statement ~ Jill Harrington Nichols

My painting is poetry, a lyrical composition of color and light. When painting, I am in the moment, thoroughly present
and enraptured. I experience a sense of peace, as well as an urgency to capture and share the moment. It is a
privilege to paint. Taking in the invisible birdsong, whispering winds, fragrant mist, and luminous clouds, often gone
before the brush touches the paint. Inadvertently documenting the vanishing in a slipknot along the infinite.

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Video camera: Johnes Ruta
 



Jill Nichols - FULL-MOON FARNESE, ITALY - oil on canvas, 12" x 16"

  Jill Nichols’ painting explores both the earthbound and outer expanses of our divine cosmos. Her sense of color and composition has developed over the course of 30+ years as a commercial artist. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In 2000, she set her focus on painting, at first training at the Art Students League in NYC, and in 2015 earned her MFA in painting at Western Connecticut State University.

Her commissioned painting of Washington D.C. appeared as a backdrop for James Comey’s interview on “Face the Nation” while another made its appearance on Showtime’s “The Comey Rule” mini-series. Her artwork “Phi,” celebrating the divine feminine was a part of the “Nasty Woman” art social movement in New Haven and then went
on to be installed in the Vatican Observatory Museum.

 
Jill Nichols - OLANA STORM - oil on aluminum, 10" x 20"


Jill Nichols - PASSING THUNDERSTORM, FARNESSE - oil on canvas, 12" x 16"

 
Jill Nicholls - SKY WITH CRESCENT MOON - oil on canvas, 9" x 15"
  Jill Nichols has received awards from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, and Connecticut Office of the Arts. An active participant in the art communities throughout Connecticut, she has served as vice-president for the Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society and Valley Arts Council and exhibited at the Lyme Art Association, Carriage Barn, Greenwich Art Society, and Lyman Allen Museum.

Jill is an instructor at the Silvermine Art School, in New Canaan, Connecticut, and conducts painting workshops locally and abroad.
Jill now offers videos on YouTube and holds real-tim online painting critiques.


https://www.jillnichols.com/
Instagram jill_nichols_artist

Facebook @JillHarringtonNichols
www.linkedin.com/in/jill-nichols-artist
YouTube Channel - Jill Nichols
Exhibition on view: January 2 - February 28, 2024

Curator: Johnes Ruta, AzothGallery.com 203-668-6933 azothgallery@comcast.net

Library Branch Manager: Marian Huggins mhuggins@nhfpl.org

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MYTHIC SYMBOLISM & ILLUMINATION

Artworks by two artists: Elisa Vegliante and Robert J. Cuneo (Univ. of Bpt. retired)

In the Meeting Room of the
Mitchell Branch New Haven Free Public Library
37 Harrison Street, WESTVILLE, CT 06515
Location: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3277113,-72.9619846,18z

Curated by Johnes Ruta

Meet the Artists Reception: Saturday October 21, 2023, 2:00 - 4:00 pm

 
 
Bob Cuneo - Primal Elder Goddess - derwent pigment pencil leads on paper, 15" x 10"
 
 
Elisa Vegliante ESCAPE FROM THE AI WORLD - acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"
 
 
Elisa Vegliante -- MondoExpressionism - Artist Statement

I taught elementary school art for thirty two years, painting on the side all the while. I’ve always been fascinated by Children’s art:
the simple symbolism,
the playful use of color, the refusal or inability to mimic dull reality. My art is sort of a child’s art
with the superimposition of subtext and/or narration,and I’ve always thought of it as a link between classic expressionism
and primitivism, a balancing act between innocence and profundity, an aesthetic see-saw between serious and fun.

 
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Video Camera: Johnes Ruta
 
Bob Cuneo - Primal Enchanted Goddess - derwent pigment pencil leads on paper, 15" x 10"
 

Robert J. Cuneo - Magic Realist - Artist Statement

The history of the narrative art form evolves in artworks such as Robert Cuneo’s visionary portrayals of Gods and Goddesses,
which convey the sensation of cosmic consciousness and Illumination. In his paintings from his series “Thought-Form Divinities :
Astral Images of the Great Goddess and the Primal God,” Cuneo relates his iconographic symbolism and mythic pictorial imagery
to the Hermetic Traditions of alchemy, pagan magic, ancient wisdom, and Renaissance story-telling. Drawn in a Magic Realist style,
with derwent pigmented pencils, these pairs of six divine archetypes are manifested in radiant pigment colors. Their faces gaze out to
the viewer with the clear eyes of frankness, kindness, and mystery, their costume garb telling the symbolism of their place
and purpose in the universe, and their roles among the other godsand in the lives of earthly men and women.

Mr. Cuneo (b. 1939) is a retired Professor of Fine Arts from the University of Bridgeport where he taught from 1965 to 1989.
After leaving his tenured post at U.B., Cuneo also moved away from the ideas of contemporary art and devoted the essence
of his work to the rituals and symbolismand the landscapes of Classical harbor cities. He became a staff artist
for the nature/spirituality quarterly CIRCLE MAGAZINE, which has featured his ink drawings and color covers since 1985.

 
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Video Camera: Johnes Ruta
 
 
Bob Cuneo - Primal Organic Goddess - derwent pigment pencil leads on paper, 15" x 10"
 
 
 
Bob Cuneo - Primal Dancing God - derwent pigment pencil leads on paper, 15" x 10"
 
 
  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 
Elisa Vegliante DIVINE PHYSICIAN - acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"
 
 
 
Elisa Vegliante THE HANDYMAN IS THE CANDYMAN - acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"
 
 
Elisa Vegliante THOUGHT MINISTERS - acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"
 
Exhibition on view: October 3 – 31, 2023

Library hours: Monday 12noon - 8:00pm; Tues-Thurs - 10am-6:00 pm;
Saturday 10am- 5:00pm. Closed Fridays & Sundays.

Curator: Johnes Ruta, AzothGallery.com 203-668-6933 azothgallery@comcast.net

Branch Library Branch Manager: Marian Huggins mhuggins@nhfpl.org
 
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APPEARANCES FROM THE SPHERES

Subconsciounalist paintings by Katia Jirankova Levanti

DaSilva Gallery
899 Whalley Avenue, Westville Village
New Haven, CT 06515
Location: click to display map

Meet the Artist Reception: Saturday, September 9, 5:00 - 7:00 pm.

Curated by Johnes Ruta.

 
 
 
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Video camera: Johnes Ruta
 
Katia Jirankova - ETERNAL FIGHT FOR THE GOLDEN FLOWER - oil canvas, 30" x 48"
 

Katia Jirankova Levanti lives half the year in her native Prague and the other half she spends merging with the waves of the
Connecticut coast painting close as possible to the waters. Her concept is called "Subconsciounalism" which she describes:

"I arrived at this name to describe my work after studying deeply in the philosophies and writings of writers whose understanding
of the universe and mankind -- though originating from different ends of the scientific and philosophical world - seemed to meet me
at the apex of the symbolic pyramid. As one of them said, the four walls could be seen as the four great world religions, all arriving
from opposite directions at the common point: where 'The eye of God opens.' ”

For Katia, these four sides could depict quantum physics, psychology, mythology, and art.

 
 
Katia Jirankova - PYRAMID BUILDERS - oil canvas, 44" x 32"
 
 
Katia Jirankova - MEETING IN THE SPHERES - oil canvas, 30" x 40"
 
 
 
Katia Jirankova - PLANTORIUM PILGRIM - oil canvas, 30" x 40"
 
 
Katia Jirankova Levanti -- Reception Q&A
 
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Video camera: Johnes Ruta
 
 
Katia Jirankova - MEANWHILE ON THE SUN - oil canvas, 32" x 48"
 
 
 
Katia Jirankova - SPARK OF A MEETING - oil canvas, 30" x 48"
 
 
Exhibition on view: September 5 – 30, 2023
Gallery hours: Tuesday to Thursday - 10am-5:30 pm;
Friday and Saturday - 10am-5:00 pm.

Contact -- Curator: Johnes Ruta
iPhone 203.668.6933
azothgallery@comcast.net
independent curator & art theorist
https://AzothGallery.com/


Gabriel DaSilva
Gallerist & Framing

899 Whalley Avenue, Westville Village
New Haven, CT 06515
(203) 387-2539
 
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Triple-Facet Visions

Three-person show:
Paintings & Drawings by MARIAN DOHERTY, MARC CHABOT,
and ARMANDO ERBA

In the Meeting Room of the
Mitchell Branch New Haven Free Public Library
37 Harrison Street, WESTVILLE, CT 06515
Location: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3277113,-72.9619846,18z

Curated by Johnes Ruta

Meet the Artists Reception: Saturday August 19, 2:00 - 4:00 pm

 
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Video camera: Mariellen Chapdelaine
(continued below)
 
Marian Doherty - Sailboat
oil pastels 13" x 17" framed
Artist’s Statement – Marian Doherty
 

Water:
- ebbs and flows
- represented by Yin, the female quality
- fluid, shimmery, silky
- with waves that comfort
(like being in the womb)
- reflects various colors of light from the sky

Marian Doherty was born in The Bronx. She received her BA in Arts Administration from
Lehman College CUNY, and studied Painting & Sculpture at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn.
Her home and Studio are located in Milford, CT.

 
 
Marian Doherty - Snug in Harbor
oil pastels 13" x 17" framed
 
 
Marian Doherty - Thru Car Window
oil pastels 13" x 17" framed
 
 

 
Marc Chabot - Survival of the Fittest
Brush & Ink Drawing on warm white wove paper 13" x 17"
 
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Video camera: Mariellen Chapdelaine
 
Artist’s Statement – Marc Chabot
 
Marc Chabot is an artist, curator, lecturer and private dealer in 19th -21st century American and European original prints and works on paper. He is based in Southbury, CT. In 1990, he founded Marc Chabot Fine Arts with a gallery website and exhibits at art fairs up and down the east coast, also documenting the forgotten printmakers of CT. Since 1998 he has been curator of the Natalie Van Vleck
(1901-1981) collections at the Flanders Nature Center and Land Trust, which she founded, located in Woodbury. In 2018 at the Mattatuck Museum, along with the Flanders Art Committee, he curated a retrospective exhibition with catalogue of her modernist works and objects, documenting her pioneering environmentalism and land preservation. Since 1989, Mr. Chabot has taught and run figure drawing and printmaking classes at the Washington [CT] Art Association. He has lectured extensively on many American artists, especially those with ties to Connecticut.

For this exhibit Mr. Chabot has chosen several brush pen ink drawings on paper from imagination of the past 20 years. Mysterious, animated environments seek to engage the viewer in their own visual adventure, asking themselves, where is this taking me? The
centuries old Asian traditions of landscape brush painting and our own 20th century traditions of surrealism and abstraction have informed the artist’s choices. The absence of color focuses attention on the rhythm, velocity and dynamic pulse of line, and the
evolving forms and interactions they suggest. What emerges provides a time and place for contemplation with forces at work, with entities and events taking place, for the viewer to engage with and think about.

 

Marc Chabot - Nose in a Bad Neighborhood
Sumi Pen Ink Drawing, 13" x 14"
 
 
 
Armando Erba - Serbian Child
acrylic on canvas 12" x 16"
 
 
Artist’s Statement – Armando Erba
Armando Erba is a composer, actor, painter, and well-known, acomplished performance artist
in New Haven, where he was born in 1957. His works are deeply informed by his personal
creative mind and wide comprehensive study and knowledge of world literature.
Mr. Erba did a year of paintings in San Franscisco in 1997, these pieces are his results.
 
 
 
Armando Erba - Women of Saigon (Ho Chi Min City)
acrylic on canvas 14" x 18"
 
 
Exhibition on view: August 1 – 31, 2023
Library hours: Monday 12noon - 8:00pm; Tues-Thurs - 10am-6:00 pm;
Saturday 10am- 5:00pm. Closed Fridays & Sundays.

Curator: Johnes Ruta, AzothGallery.com 203-668-6933 azothgallery@comcast.net

Branch Library Branch Manager: Marian Huggins mhuggins@nhfpl.org
 
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<>
 
Video camera: Johnes Ruta
 
 
Mariellen Chapdelaine - 9 - Emergent Point - The Moon Pit -- mixed media 28.5" x 21"
 
Artist’s Statement – Mariellen Chapdelaine
 
Feeling compelled to create spontaneous shapes in various arrays of color with emphasis on detail and texture was where I began. The details, like Fibonacci’s code, led to smaller details which mimicked the large, while the big picture appeared an insinuation and iteration of the tiny. I understood an inherent intelligence was realizing itself in this work which is ‘beyond me’. As a laborer, my job is to configure the forms in whatever medium works to convey the amalgamated concepts which visit me.
I have been a student of the I Ching for forty-some years and an avid admirer of Carl Jung. I learn to unlearn. As a persistent ponderer of synchronicity, I understand the ominous depths that reliance on chance can lead to, and the impossible logic of simultaneously believing and not believing the same thing at the same time. I concluded this was not only possible but desirable since polar opposites exists only in relation to each other. Why shouldn’t the human brain which created names for this symmetry also experience them firsthand?

My artistic process and the work I’ve created are the result of this thought. I am inspired almost exclusively by I Ching Hexagrams which to me convey emotionally logical and highly specific types of shapes or imagery which I transfer most often to heavy paper and sometimes to transparency paper. The next step for a given piece is to photograph and study the base layer and reread the hexagram to identify core energies and the values which are conveying themselves. Subsequent layers, as few as three or as many as twenty, emerge spontaneously in a mental visual picture which I then translate into doable manual actions. I create smaller pieces to incorporate, sometimes doing deep research into the evolution of the Hexagram to locate a layer of ‘meaning’ and its symbols, sometimes drawing or developing graphic imagery which usually alludes to a natural element or an obscure reference..
 
 
 
Mariellen Chapdelaine -- 57 - Subtle Penetration -- mixed media 21" x 17"
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Joe Fekieta -- It's Happening All Over the Place -- color-pencil-drawing 01
   
Artist’s Statement – Joseph Fekieta
 
The images in the “It’s Happening” series are an abstract interpretation of the esoteric process of reproduction. Included in this theme are concepts of fertili-zation, growth, transformation, decay and death that are demonstrated through invented life forms and sometimes their life cycles. The colored ribbons function as the unexplainable energy which enables the reproductive process to mysteriously begin and continuously grow. The black ribbons assist the reproductive process on its journey and guides it past many obstacles during its many evolutionary stages.

The images are titled with frequently-used cliches obtained from the American vernacular to appropriately explain each drawings reproductive narrative. The narratives work as symbolic representations for pedestrian social issues that permeate human cultures and require relentless engagement to manage and sustain civilization all as a result of the reproductive process.
 

Joe Fekieta -- It's Happening to Access Desperately Needed Resources -- color pencil drawing 14
 
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Exhibition on view: May 1 – 31, 2023
Library hours: Monday 12noon - 8:00pm; Tues-Thurs - 10am-6:00 pm;
Saturday 10am- 5:00pm. Closed Fridays & Sundays.

Curator: Johnes Ruta, AzothGallery.com 203-668-6933 azothgallery@comcast.net

Branch Library Branch Manager: Marian Huggins mhuggins@nhfpl.org
   
   
 
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Magda Mraz, is an art teacher from the West Haven school system, who paints tall format oil pastel paintings of mythic and mysterious historical scenes. As a curator, I've exhibited her artworks on several occasions. Magda is a resident of Westville, originally from Prague, Czech Republic. She was student at the Industrial School for Ceramics in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia. In 1967, her family emigrated to the US, and she continued her education at Queens College in New York City, where she earned her B.A. and M.F.A. degrees. ~JR

“I was always interested in a story telling, particularly after I have discovered the existence of cosmic geometry which permeates the whole universe. It is a study of the intertwining of geometric forms and the structures of consciousness. My artwork illustrated the sequential developmental stages in their growing complexity.
The new work includes my illustrations of the two poems by the Persian poet Hafiz and confirms the similar views he held already in his 14th century." ~Magda Mraz

https://www.fictionalcafe.com/magdalena-marz-exploring-spirituality-with-her-paint-brush/

   
 
 
Magda Mraz KEEPING IN TOUCH - acrylic on canvas 22" x 38"
 
  Kathleen DeMeo is a printmaker, painter, and mixed media artist. Her work has been shown in respected exhibitions including the Center for Contemporary Printmaking’s FOOTPRINT International, Connecticut Women Artists’ national juried exhibition, the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts’ annual, and juried shows at Lyme Art Association, where she is an associate member. Her monotypes have merited several “best in show” prizes among other awards.

"I’ve always been inspired by the natural world. My recent landscapes explore real and imagined places through the lens of the monotype. In a world that assaults our senses every day, I strive to create a feeling of calmness and serenity, and a safe haven, reflecting my reverence for nature.”
~Kathleen DeMeo

Kathleen holds a BFA in graphic design from the University of Connecticut, and has studied printmaking at Creative Arts Workshop for over 25 years.
More of her work can be viewed on her website at http://Kathleendemeo.com/
 
 
 
Kathleen DeMeo NORTHERN LATITUDE - mixed-media monotype 12" x 17"
 
 
Contact: Curator - Johnes Ruta
iPhone 203-668-6933
azothgallery@comcast.net

Marian Huggins, Branch Manager
Westville Mitchell New Haven Free Public Library
mhuggins@nhfpl.org
   
 
 
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Video camera (fixed position): : Johnes Ruta
 
 
Katia Jirankova Levanti - SISTERS - oil on canvas, 36"h x 48”w
 
Katia Jirankova Levanti lives half the year in her native Prague and the other half she spends merging with the waves of the Connecticut coast painting close as possible to the waters. Her concept is called "Subconsciounalism" which she describes:

"I arrived at this name to describe my work after studying deeply in the philosophies and writings of writers whose understanding of the universe and mankind -- though originating from different ends of the scientific and philosophical world - seemed to meet me at the apex of the symbolic pyramid. As one of them said, the four walls could be seen as the four great world religions, all arriving from opposite directions at the common point: where “The eye of God opens”.” For Katia, these four sides could depict quantum physics, psychology, mythology, and art.

https://www.katia-jirankova-levanti.com/

 
 
Katia Jirankova Levanti - SUN GATES - oil on canvas, 32"h x 48”w
 
 
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Ralph Levesque THREE UNTOLD TALES acrylic on canvas - triptych 11"x 33"
  Ralph Levesque (b. 1941) is an artist, art teacher and former gallerist living in Higganum, CT. He has a BFA and Masters Degree in Art Education, from the University of Bridgeport, and a teaching certificate from Southern CT State University. I have shown his work on two occasions since a 2008 show at the New Haven Free Public Library. Mr. Levesque writes: "I am a romantic visual poet, aware that all designs and symbols are inspired by the Natural. Therefore, I am not concerned with producing copied images. I seek to find beauty within the concrete, behind the material level. Instinctively and unconsciously I seek the essence of "Universal Beauty," the intrinsic force of all. The reality of matter is always moving, changing, evolving and becoming anew."

http://ralphlevesqueart.com/

 
 
Ralph Levesque DREAM CHANT - acrylic on cnavas 20" x 20"
 
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Exhibition on view: September 2nd to 29th, 2022

Contact -- Curator: Johnes Ruta
iPhone 203.668.6933
azothgallery@comcast.net
independent curator & art theorist
https://AzothGallery.com/

Woodbridge Town Library
Kira Edic, Adult Services Librarian
203-389-3466
kedic@woodbridgetownlibrary.org

   
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In Need of More Light
A Two-Person art show:

Jane Gilman Fleischner & Larry Morse
Please click on the line above to link to a printable single page of this show

In the Meeting Room of the
Mitchell Branch New Haven Free Public Library
37 Harrison Street, WESTVILLE, CT 06515

Curated by Johnes Ruta

 
<>
 
Video camera: Mariellen Chapdelaine
 
 
Jane Gilman Fleischner SUNSET OVER A SALT MARSH - acrylic on canvas 24" x 16"
  Jane Gilman Fleischner is an artist from Trumbull who maintains a studio at the N.E.S.T. Art Center in Bridgeport. Ms.Fleischner holds a BA in Fine Art from the University of Bridgeport.Her joyful persuit is painting landscapes from Costa Rica to Europe, Utah, and the East Coast, and her main creative focus is a reverence for nature, color, light, and life. At home in her Trumbull CT studio, the photos serve as a reference library to paint from. Jane’s main focus is a reverence for nature, color, light and life within all things. The internal story is a sometimes elusive subject, always present her artwork.
 
Larry Morse - Reader on the #2 Train - oil on canvas, 31.5" x 41.5"
  Larry Morse is an artist, jazz drummer, and poet, also specializing in recitations from memory of many renowned poets, who currently resides in both New York and Connecticut.

Reading might be an escape from reality for some people, but for artist Larry Morse reading is the answer to the social issues affecting the reality of Black men. "How do we figure and calculate a next step to surviving and dwelling in a culture that clearly does not see us in total? My answer is reading, especially in a sense of under-standing historic realities and to better explain how things are today," said Morse. His idea is embodied in a series of paintings called "Black Men Reading".
A Vietnam veteran, Morse has a BFA from School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, and a masters’s degree in special education from St. Vincent’s College in the Bronx. He worked for many years as a teacher in the New York City public school system. He currently works as a painter in his Bronx studio and in addition, as a Yellow Cab driver in New York City. His work has been shown in numerous locations around Connecticut, including City Lights Gallery in Bridgeport, CT, the Easton Public Library and Carol Peck's Good News Cafe & Gallery in Woodbury, CT.
 
 
 
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Invisible Structures in Art
Please click on the line above to link to a printable single page of this show

Mitchell Branch New Haven Free Public Library
37 Harrison Street, Westville, CT 06405
Meet the Artists Reception: Thursday, June 23 4:00 pm.

 
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Video camera: Phillip Chambers
 
Artist Statements
 
 
Irene K Miller - SIGHTLINES 5 - monotype 24" x 24"
Irene K. Miller: “My work is influenced by Post Minimalism and Neo-Geo and focuses on the geometry of circles, rectangles, squares and stripes as conceptual structure to a series of individual ideas. Layering forms relationships, and mark-making can detail patterns that are experiential in life. Combining ephemeral materials such as dirt, dust, seeds, plants and hair with more concrete materials such as photos, wax paper and thread, the work allows for pentimento and the superimposing of serendipitous mark-making reflective of what culturally surrounds us. Incorporating these facets into structural formations such as topographical maps, the visual field of sight, perception, veneers and ocular diseases, this work takes on social relevance. https://irenekmiller.com/statement.html
 
 
Philippa Blair - WILD THINGS - acrylic on canvas 30" x 40"
  Philippa Blair: “Philippa Blair employs a full arsenal of abstract expressionist techniques, including the turning of her canvases so that there is no fixed point of view. Her gestures can crash against each other like a multi-car pile up but in fact are controlled impulses, rhythmically taut, expertly choreographed body movements embodied in stroke and color, a bravura orchestration that is both physical and emotional” ?
~ Lily Wei.
Ms Blair is an international artist of New Zealand,  1967 BA at Canterbury University, Christchurch, She was an Artist-in-Residence at the Griffis Art Center in New London in 2002-2003.  In the US, her abstract paintings have been exhibited at the Wickiser Gallery in NYC.  https://www.philippablair.com/
 
Maralyn Adlin - FLORAL CONVERSATION - oil on canvas 16" x 20"
  Maralyn Adlin: “We live in a world that is constructed or built by specific laws of nature. These forms exist in the natural world and are reflected back to us through all the arts. There may be many ways to express the structures that underpin what we see and hear even our DNA is made in this manner. It is who we are and how we are made. The structure which defines the works are not always visible on the surface but they are there underneath as a scaffold to hold up a mirror of who we are and what  we know to be true.“As a painter I use objects or figures in interiors or landscape settings to express abstract realities which are less about literal representation or narrative. My story lies in paint and placement. I am interested in intersections, vortices, and patterns that happen when objects collide or stand apart to create a distinct tension in the negative areas. The goal is to unify the composition with form and color relationships that make a place of peace and calm or turn tension into stasis.” Ms. Adlin attended the Art Student’s League in NYC and Pratt Institute School of Fine Art, and later C.W. Post College in Brookville, NY where she obtained her degree and Certification in Art Therapy.  https://maralynadlin.com
 
 
Don Wunderlee - SHORE LINES - acrylic on panel 36" x 36"
  Don Wunderlee:  “My work is abstract. I straddle between two genres of abstraction. My contemplative work is reminiscent of Landscape and touches upon themes of time and space. It is through a repetition of linear marks and earth tones that help me achieve that. The other genre I very much enjoy is Geometric Abstraction. It is more playful in nature, experimental and reflects an urge for interconnectedness.”    https://www.donwunderleeart.com/
 
 
Exhibition: June 2 – July 2, 2022
Curator: Johnes Ruta, AzothGallery.com 203-668-6933 azothgallery@comcast.net
 
 
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Mythic Lore

 

Etchings & Oil Paintings by Stoimen Stoilov
Lead Metal Sculptures by Dana Naumann
Guest Curated by Johnes Ruta, azothgallery@comcast.net

Exhibition: September 18 – October 30, 2021

OPENING RECEPTION Saturday October 9th, 3:00 to 6:00 pm

 
SSG - Six Summit Gallery
Leo Feroleto, Director

314 Flat Rock Place, Suites F135-F140
in the Westfield Mall
Westbrook CT, 06498

NYC/CT - (917)-573-0029
www.sixsummitgallery.com
 
 
 


Stoimen Stoilov - ANTECUM THEATRUM VI
original Red Conte' drawing - 42" x 30"

 

STOIMEN STOILOV

STOIMEN STOILOV was born in Varna, Bulgaria in 1944 and is a graduate of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria. He leads his visual articulations with a Surrealist nature, and works in his studio in Vienna. In the US, he is represented by the William Meredith Foundation in Uncasville, CT.

For Stoimen, line is a justified dominating force, and his visions are rich with symbolism and indigenous history. His poetic visions encourage viewers to imagine mythic traditions and lore. He spent time living among the Aborigines in Australia, one of the many cultural influences in his work. His art has also been influenced by the poetry of friends like Lyubomir Levchev (1935-2020) Poet Laureate of Bulgaria, William Meredith (1919-2007) Poet Laureate of the United States 1978-1980, and the poet Richard Harteis (b.1946).

In 1991, Stoimen Stoilov was awarded Gottfried Von Herder Prize by The University of Vienna. His work resides in Museum of Graphic Arts Albertine, Vienna; the National Museums of Art in Sofia, Columbia, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland; the Pushkin Museum, Moscow; the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris; Yale University; the NY Public Library, and the U.S. Library of Congress, Washington. In the US, his most recent shows were a large 2015 retrospective, including two 8 foot wide murals at the Slater Museum in Norwich; exhibitions at the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington DC; the Lyman Allyn Museum, New London; and at UCONN Avery Point, Groton, CT.

Stoimen Stoilov is a first-class engraver and in his recent work he has attained a maturity of touch, detail, and expressivity of line, and a dynamism of the imaginaire which transcends not only the frontiers of reality, but also those of forms. The work of Stoilov is marked by a new vision of the most obscure recesses of the body of the being, of the animal, of nature and environment, and minutae of the articulations and body language. They acquire a lightness which makes them float in a space of overflowing geometric forms, letting themselves go freely in movement, in new imaginary landscapes.

 
 


Stoimen Stoilov - Cosmogony
etching aquatint 23" x 30"

 
Stoimen Stoilov - Pandora's Box
etching 32" x 25"
 
Stoimen Stoilov - Knight and Lady
original painting - oil on canvas 21" x 25"
 
 
 
Stoimen Stoilov - Woman with Bird
etching 25" x 32"
 
 
 
Stoimen Stoilov - ANTECUM THEATRUM IX
original Red Conte' drawing 42" x 30"
 
DANA NAUMANN

Dana Baldwin Naumann creates fanciful and fabulous sculpture, mostly crafted from lead sheets coated with copper or zinc patinas. Naumann's hammered sculptures are studies in texture, soft and warm looking even as metal surfaces, depicting religious, mythic, and archetypal scenes.

Naumann had a successful marketing career as Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, but in 1994 he determined to devote his life to his art, a decision he says he has never regretted. He designed and contributed sculptures pieces to the permanent collections of United States Special Olympics, a piece on the Holocaust to the Thomas Dodd Center, UCONN, Storrs, CT; and to the Aids Project in New Haven.

Dana Naumann's artworks have been shown at Artworks Gallery in Hartford, Art Expo in NYC, Gallerie Michele in Washington DC, the Mystic Art Guild in Mystic, CT, Vital Gallery in Hawaii, the York Square Gallery in New Haven, Fre Wil in Los Angeles, CA, and at the Jewish Community Center in Amity, CT.

Art critic Steve Starger wrote about his work: "Naumann's finely wrought sculptures aren't depressing or oppressive. He draws on African and mythological references to create monolithic faces that are inspired by ritual masks and statuary, like monuments or totems left by a long-vanished civilization. These elongated faces appear aloof and ascetic, but are also strangely poignant, and each emanates a sense of mystery and longing."

 
 
 
Dana Naumann - Lightning Strikes
40lb metal wall sculpture -12" x 18"
 
 
 
Dana Naumann - Waking Up from a Wonderful Dream
50lb metal wall sculpture 24" x 36"
 
 
 
Dana Naumann - Shy
18lb metal wall sculpture - 30" x 9" x 3"
 
 
 
Dana Naumann - The Happy Couple
25lb metal pedestal sculpture - 20" x 10" x 9"
 
 
 
Dana Naumann - There is Someting Wonderful About Just Holding Hands
80lb metal wall sculpture 36" x 36"
 
 
 
Dana Naumann - Sad Eyed Lady of the Low Lands
18lb metal pedestal sculpture - 18x10
 
 

SSG - Six Summit Gallery
Leo Feroleto, Director

314 Flat Rock Place, Suites F135-F140
in the Westfield Mall
Westbrook CT, 06498

NYC/CT - (917)-573-0029
www.sixsummitgallery.com

 
Reception : Saturday, October 9, 2021, 6-9 PM

Guest curator, Johnes Ruta (203) 668-6933
azothgallery@comcast.net http://azothgallery.com/
   
 
 
 
 
 

TERRITORIES OF THE SOUL

Oil and Acrylic Paintings by Carole Gubitz

Artists' Reception: Saturday, March 7, 2020 3:00 to 5:30 PM

Connecticut Hospice Gallery
100 Double Beach Rd
Branford, CT 06405

Curated by Johnes Ruta, azothgallery@comcast.net

Exhibition: March 3 - April 5, 2020


Individually Printable Page

Photos Credits # 1, 2, 3, 5 : Mariellen Chapdelaine, 2019

Photos Credits # 4, 6, 7, 8 : Sonia Gubitz, 2020


Carole Gubitz MOROCCAN LADY acrylic on canvas 36" x 24" (1)

Born in 1934 in the Bronx, Carole Gubitz (age 85) has devoted her life to creative pursuits. She attended the High School of Performing Arts and was initially trained as an actress. Her path took an unexpected turn when her teachers noticed she possessed a voice capable of operatic performance. Carole attended the Manhattan School of Music and studied privately with the eminent Metropolitan Opera baritone, John Brownlee.



Carole Gubitz SWISS TEA ROOM acrylic on canvas 20" x 36" (2)



Carole Gubitz SHADES OF VERMEER: THE RED HAT oil on canvas 32" x 26" (3)



Carole Gubitz AT THE CLAVIER acrylic and collage on canvas 29" x 33" (4)


Carole Gubitz "PEACOCK" acrylic on canvas 36" x 18" (5)

In 1960, Carole and her husband, Myron, moved to Zurich where Carole was engaged to sing at the St. Gallen Swiss Opera House. During that time, the couple became affiliated with the nearby C.G. Jung Institute, and were deeply and irrevocably influenced by Jungian theory.


Carole Gubitz MONT ST. MICHELE acrylic and oil on canvas 33" x 42" (6)

Around 1964, Carole started painting and creating collage at the advice of noted Jungian psychologist and author, James Hillman. A founder of a movement toward archetypal psychology, Hillman insisted that an expressive medium was essential to Carole’s wellbeing. The couple remained in Zurich for thirteen years; Carole evolved into a self-taught artist, and Myron became her promoter and agent, procuring a number of well-received exhibits.


Carole Gubitz THINKING acrylic and collage on canvas 32" x 26" (7)

The couple returned to the US in 1974 with their three children and lived in several different states in New England and the southeast, ultimately moving to Branford in 2014. Through the decades, these shifting landscapes bled into Carole’s depictions of her inner world as she continued to expand her artistic repertoire and skill, relying more on self-teaching and instinct than on learned technique, and showing her work along the Connecticut shoreline.

Much of Carole’s work centers on the complexity of the human psyche as it presents itself in the exterior world; the relationship between dream and reality are key to her perception and vision, and her content moves provocatively through these shifting planes. Carole’s world never quite lands in a fixed place, but instead continues on its ever-changing path between the weightiness of reality and the numinous territory of the soul.


Carole Gubitz VESSELS acrylic and collage on canvas 26" x 34" (8)

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Curated by: Johnes Ruta, independent curator & art theorist
203.668.6933, http://AzothGallery.com/
azothgallery@comcast.net

Hours: Visiting Hours Daily 10AM - 8 PM

Katherine Blossom, Arts Director
Connecticut Hospice
203-315-7522
100 Double Beach Road
Branford, CT 06405

 
 
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LANDSCAPE EXPLORATIONS

Oil Paintings by Charles Reyburn

Artist's Reception: Saturday, October 26, 2019, 3:00 to 6:00 PM

Connecticut Hospice
100 Double Beach Road
Branford, CT 06405

Curated by Johnes Ruta, azothgallery@comcast.net

Individually Printable Page


Charles Reyburn "The-Connecticut-Shoreline -- Ferry-Headed-to-Long-Island" oil on canvas 10" x13"

Artist’s Statement by Charles W. Reyburn

"Our World is not static. It is forever changing. My solution, these days, is to take my french easel
and head out into that world. I use my wooden palette laid out with 14 to 15 oil colors and I…..
choose a composition….draw… and then… paint (manipulate color). The challenge is to concentrate
(think) and to transfer a large or immense (if it extends to the horizon) scene convincingly onto a canvas
rectangle, 8x 10, 11 x 14, 18 x 24 up to perhaps 48 x 36 inches.

"In our time away from our chosen vocations we often head outside OR remain inside to observe
and explore the world around us. To reaffirm its’ life-giving beauty and awesome powers.
All caught in glimpses in which we are feeling the present-into-the future or are taken into feeling
our past. A painting by hand (and mind) puts you there.

"I grew up in New London, CT. Attended Rhode Island School of Design 1974-78
and hold a BFA in Painting. I presently live in Waterford, CT.  I think of my paintings as
"moments in time” or as Corot called many of his paintings; “souvenirs.”


Charles Reyburn "Across Fishers to Plum Island 1-14-11" oil on canvas 11" x 14"




Charles Reyburn "The Branford Hospice 10-01-2019" oil on canvas 11" x 14"


Charles Reyburn "Front Porch" oil on canvas 24" x 30"


Individually Printable Page

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Exhibition: October 8 to Novembe 17, 2019

Curated by: Johnes Ruta, independent curator & art theorist
203.668.6933, http://AzothGallery.com/
azothgallery@comcast.net

Hours: Visiting Hours Daily 9am - 8 pm

Katherine Blossom, Arts Director
Connecticut Hospice
203-315-7522
100 Double Beach Road
Branford, CT 06405

 
 
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SPRING LANDSCAPES & GARDENS

Paintings by Jane Gilman Fleischner

Artist's Reception: Saturday, June 8th, 2019 3:30 to 5:30 PM

Connecticut Hospice
100 Double Beach Road
Branford, CT 06405

Curated by Johnes Ruta, azothgallery@comcast.net

Individually Printable Page


Jane Gilman Fleischner IPSWICH MORNING acrylic on canvas 20" x 24"

Jane Gilman Fleischner holds a BA in Fine Art from the University of Bridgeport.
Her relentless joyful pursuit is photographing and painting landscapes from
Costa Rica to Europe, Utah, and the East Coast.


Jane Gilman Fleischner SUNSET OVER A SALT MARSH acrylic on canvas 24" X 16"

At home in her Trumbull CT studio, the photos serve as a reference library to paint from. Jane’s main focus
is a reverence for nature, color, light and life within all things. The internal story is a sometimes elusive subject,
always present her artwork.


Jane Gilman Fleischner TIGER LILLIES AND HYDRANGEA acrylic on canvas 16" x 20"


Jane Gilman Fleischner CITY STREET acrylic on canvas 20" x 24"


Jane Gilman Fleischner BEAR'S EARS MONUMENT, UTAH acylic on canvas 48" X 36"

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Curated by: Johnes Ruta, independent curator & art theorist
203.668.6933, http://AzothGallery.com/
azothgallery@comcast.net

Hours: Visiting Hours Daily 10AM - 8 PM

Katherine Blossom, Arts Director
Connecticut Hospice
203-315-7522
100 Double Beach Road
Branford, CT 06405

 
 
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  "ANIMA, ANIMALS, and ANIMUS"
Beloved souls, the Rainbow Bridge and Beyond

a two-person art exhibit of collages by Paula Emery of Lyme,
and paintings by Ralph Levesque of Higganum

Individually Printable Page

Artists' Reception: Saturday, March 23, 2019 3:30 to 6:00 PM.
Curated by: Johnes Ruta


Connecticut Hospice
100 Double Beach Rd
Branford, CT 06405

Anima : an individual's true inner self that in the analytic psychology of C. G. Jung reflects archetypal ideals of conduct; also, an inner feminine part of the male personality.
Animus : an inner masculine part of the female personality in the analytic psychology of C. G. Jung.
Animals : well, you know that one!

Exhibition: February 27 to April 8, 2019 10AM - 8PM daily


Paula Emery - ANGELS III -- collage, 5"h x 7"w

Artist Statement by PAULA EMERY
https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/paula-solimene.html

My art reveals - my love of animals and their unique personalities - their very distinctive eyes as the windows to their soul; of nature and its beauty - skies, trees, gardens, flowers, rocks, water. The beauty of the natural world just awaits to be captured by the brush. My collage mixed media works reflect my strong sense of design and tell a story without words. The stories reflect the joys and sorrows of women; from ancient past to present day …. from Angels and stone goddesses of ancient past memories to mental images of my daughter’s days as a female in the Iraq war. My collage work tends to reveal where my heart and inner mind are when creating the work. I guess my heart rules my art even tho I am not aware of it during the execution….as some of my collages have taken more than a year to complete.


Paula Emery - FACES OF THE GODDESS -- collage, 12"h x 16"w

Associations: Former Board of Directors Member - Clinton Arts Gallery and the Madison Art Society; Elected artist member of the Madison Art Society; Artist Member the Essex Art Association, the Lyme Art Association, and Easel Insights; Represented on-line by Fine Art America and ArtMajeur.

Education: Graduate of University of Maine with a BA in History and Art History, minors in Art and Education. More recently, I have studied at the Crealde School of Art and Design, Winter Park, FL.; Lyme Art Academy, Lyme , CT; and Lyme Art Association, Lyme, CT.


Paula Emery - ANCIENTS -- collage, 12"h x 16"w

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Ralph Levesque - SMALL LANDSCAPE -- mixed media on panel, 20"h x 20"w

Artist Statement by RALPH LEVESQUE
http://RalphLevesqueArt.com/

"I am a romantic visual poet - aware that all designs and symbols are inspired by the Natural. Therefore, I am not concerned with producing copied images of Nature, but, seek to find beauty within the concrete; behind the material level.

"Instinctively and unconsciously I seek the essence of 'universal beauty'- the intrinsic force of all. The true artist is but a person who understands what others only know about. Using materials both Natural and 'man-made,' old and new, discarded/ found or recycled; I discover their hidden truth. The hidden reality of matter it is always moving/ changing, evolving and becoming anew.

"My works are like artifacts from some distant past civilization and places unknown- pointing to new yet to be discovered worlds and realms. The element of time revealing past and future cycles of the universe are revealed, and appear in recognized/ yet forgotten memories, I have been granted a gift - a 'child like mind' - seeing the constructive patterns/ the rhythmic hidden constructs in nature and seeing the spiritual things that it really is. Reaching back, I allow the handcrafted, "touched by man" to show. "Using matter; I focus on being a conduit, through which timeless invisible sources and untouchable mysterious forces connect the physical and spiritual."

Ralph Levesque has experienced a lifetime of changes -- from getting his MS in Fine Art from University of Bridgeport, to teaching art for thirty five years in Hamden and Durham private schools, to displaying his imaginative and award winning works in galleries all over Connecticut.


Ralph Levesque -- FIRE IN THE EAST - acrylics on canvas 30"h x 18"w


Ralph Levesque - MANTIS -- acrylic on canvas, 30"h x 20"w

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Exhibition February 26 to April 8, 2019

Curated by: Johnes Ruta, independent curator & art theorist
203.668.6933, http://AzothGallery.com/
azothgallery@comcast.net

 
 
PETER KONSTERLIE (1963-2018) : A Memorial Retrospective Art Exhibition

Opening Reception: November 10th, 2018, 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
(Memorial Gathering at 2:00 PM
)

University of Bridgeport’s Schelfhaudt Gallery
Arnold Bernhard Arts & Humanities Center
84 Iranistan Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06604

Curated by Johnes Ruta azothgallery@comcast.net 203.668.6933

please click on the image to view the exhibition page

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897-899 Whalley Avenue New Haven, CT 06515 -- 203-387-2539
(click here for directions)

The Magical Mystery of Shamanism
visionary artworks by Peruvian shaman
Pablo Amaringo (1939-2009) and his Students

From the Collection of Scott Olsen, Ph.D.
(Professor of Philosophy, College of Central Florida, Ocala)


Curated by Johnes Ruta

Reception: Friday, May 11, 2018 6 to 8 PM

DaSilva Gallery
897-899 Whalley Avenue New Haven, CT 06515

A presentation will be given by Scott Olsen at 7:00 PM on the
essential elements of Pablo Amaringo's art, concepts, and
workshop, as well as Prof. Olsen's personal learning
and working experiences with Amaringo, and his group.

Individually Printable Page


Pablo Amaringo "Conocimientos Curvos (Curved Knowledge)" acrylics on canvas, 20"h x 32"w

Pablo Cesar Amaringo Shuña (1938 – 2009) was an acclaimed Peruvian artist, renowned for his intricate, colorful depictions of his visions from drinking the entheogenic plant brew ayahuasca. Pablo worked as a vegetalista, a shaman in the mestizo tradition of healing, for many years, up to his death. He painted, organized and ran (along with Eduardo Luna) the Usko-Ayar school of painting, and supervised ayahuasca retreats.

When he was 17, Amaringo became extremely ill, nearly dying from severe heart problems. For over two years he could not work, but was eventually cured by a local healer. It was while recovering from this illness that he started to paint and make drawings with pencil and shading with soot from lamps. From a friend employed in a car factory he got permatex, a blue substance with which he colored his drawings.

Amaringo and Eduardo Luna co-authored and published the book Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman (North Atlantic Books 1999). He occasionally gave interviews in the years following, and later penned the preface for Plant Spirit Shamanism:Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul (Destiny Books 2006).


Deny Efer Rios Chavez "4850" acrylics on canvas, 40"h x 18"w


Jorge Enrique Ramierez Flores "4847" acrylics on canvas, 40"h x 24"w


Jose Luis Rodriquez Ysmino "4802" acrylics on canvas, 40"h x 28"w


Ruisen Flores "4838" acrylics on canvas, 20"h x 32"w

Exhibition opening Video address by Scott Olsen,
introduced by Gabriel DaSilva and Johnes Ruta:


From 2000 to 2016, Scott Olsen, Ph.D., made two trips into the highland Inca centers of Peru, including Cusco, Machu Pichu, and Q'ollorit'i, and six trips deep into the Peruvian rainforest, to the very headwaters of the Amazon River system. While working with the indigenous tribes, including the Quero, Shipibo, and Mestizo shamans, Olsen met the already great shamanic healer and artist Amaringo. There Olsen was exposed to the vividly colorful and deeply spiritual renditions of nature's life, the inner
spiritual world of plant and animal medicine teachers, and the transformative visions portrayed in their paintings.

This special exhibition features Scott Olsen's collection of paintings and prints by Pablo Amaringo and his students including Alfredo Zagaceta Cometivos, Mauro Reategui Perez, Mita Dexi Lozano Paima, Jorge Enrique Ramirez Flores, Ruisen Flores, Ener Dias Núñez, Deny Efer Rios Chavez, José Luis Rodríguez Ysmiño and Juan Benavides Perez. Scott Olsen is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the College of Central Florida, Ocala, and is the author of Mysteries of the Amazon: Visionary
Artwork of Pablo Amaringo and his Students and The Golden Section, as well as a variety of papers on the subject.

Credit for all Photos: Paul Arthur, Appleton Museum, 2017


Exhibition: May 11 to July 6, 2018.

Reception: Friday, May 11, 6 to 8 PM

Curated by Johnes Ruta
203-668-6933
http://AzothGallery.com/

azothgallery@comcast.net

DaSilva Gallery Fine Art and Framing
Gabriel DaSilva, owner & director
897-899 Whalley Avenue New Haven, CT 06515
203 387 2539
 
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The Rain Forest Comes to New Haven
By Alan Bisbort

Alan Bisbort is a writer, editor, and researcher who has authored or coauthored sixteen books of art, history, music, and travel and contributed to numerous other books. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Rolling Stone, In These Times, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Advocate, and many other publications.


What would one expect from artwork created deep in the Peruvian rain forest, awash in the sounds of the Amazon River headwaters? And when the artist, Pablo Cesar Amaringo Shuna (1938-2009), was also a shaman whose work was inspired by visions arising from ayahuasca, a plant brew that similarly dispatched Carlos Castaneda to the furthest corners of the human mind, the art is bound to be, at the very least, verdant and colorful.

Still, little can prepare viewers for the work that will appear at the Da Silva Gallery in New Haven in May 2018, from Scott Olsen’s collection of paintings and prints by Amaringo and the students of his Usko-Ayar School of Painting, such as Felix Pinchi Aguirre, Alfredo Zagaceta Cometivos, Jorge Enrique Ramirez Flores, Ener Fias Nunez and Ruisen Flores. Olsen, a University of Florida philosophy professor, spent nearly two decades traveling to the rain forest and Amazon headwaters of Peru to explore this art and the shamanic tradition that inspired it. He is the author of Mysteries of the Amazon: Visionary Artwork of Pablo Amaringo and his Students, which offers a visual sampling as well as a chronicle of his trips to the Incan strongholds in Peru.

  Take “Conocimientos Curvos (Curved Knowledge)”, which Amaringo painted in 2003. With Bosch-like detail and a palette that redefines what greens and blues can do on a canvas, the artist creates a multidimensional universe that embraces the spirits that vision masters like Amaringo find in the rain forest. Even when the meaning of the work is not immediately (if ever) knowable, the viewer simply cannot take his eyes off of it. Not to trivialize the work, but it is this quality that renders much of the psychedelic art of the 1960s so timeless. The power of the images are just as strong now, 40 and 50 years later, that they were at the time of their creation. They are—like the work of Amaringo and his disciples—not affixed to any artistic school or trend. They just are.


The same sense of timelessness can be seen in “Allpa Runa (Underground Earth Spirits)” which, according to Olsen, is the “spirit genii who live in the tunnels, the catacombs, subterranean holes, caves, grottoes, and beneath the cemeteries and cavities of the earthly globe.” Yes, it may be all of those things, but it is also a stunning visual feast the likes of which one can find the equal of in only the finest of Persian or Hindu art. The fact that this painting was completed on September 12, 2001—the artist no doubt oblivious to the tragic events in New York and Washington D.C. the day before—is enough evidence, at least for this viewer, to suggest that forces beyond our understanding are shaping the world we live in.

Exhibition May 11 - June, 2018 (extended). 

Reception:  Friday, May 11, 6 to 8 PM

Curated by Johnes Ruta  203-668-6933  azothgallery@comcast.net
  
DaSilva Gallery Fine Art and Framing 
897-899 Whalley Avenue   New Haven, CT 06515   
203 387 2539 

   
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CURRENT ART EXHIBIT AT THE DASILVA GALLERY OFFERS PROFOUND ENCOUNTERS WITH ART & THE MYSTICAL STATES OF THE PERUVIAN SHAMANS

When you unite the talents and experience of three eminently qualified professionals -- a first-rate art curator, a worldly and well-seasoned professor and a highly regarded local gallery owner -- you almost always come up with an art show that simply cannot be missed. Such is the art show on Peruvian shamanism presently on exhibit at the locally famed DaSilva Gallery in New Haven's Westville section thanks to the efforts of well-respected art curator Johnes Ruta.

Until May 31, 2018, the show entitled "The Magical Mystery of Shamanism" will festure the magnificent works of the late vegetalista curandero of the mestizo tradition, Pablo Amaringo, who passed in 2009, and his students. Amaringo and the students of Amaringo's Usko-Ayar school of painting created these visionary artworks from their experiences deep in the rainforest of Peru after ingesting ayahuasca, an entheogenic concoction comprised of plant derivatives.

At the Gallery's opening, the collection's owner, Scott Olsen, Professor Emeritus at the College of Central Florida, Ocala, who is well-versed and well-experienced in the ways of the ayahuasceros asserted that this concoction is "the fastest way to die to the ego." He explained that ingestion of ayahuasca really is a "dry run at death" as one attains supernormal perception allowing for profound encounters with plants, animals and ultimately, the Logos.

Upon viewing these incredible artworks, there seems to be no question that these deep mystical states are precisely what Amaringo and his students have in fact experienced during their vision quests. Central to the exhibit is Pablo Amaringo's painting, "Curved Knowledge," which invites the viewer to follow a serpentine path that ascends in both knowledge and divinity. At the bottoms of the painting, we watch as retreat participants are depicted ingesting ayahuasca or having its smoke blown into the palm of their hands or on the nape of the neck by other retreat participants. Then the visual odysseys begin as we first encounter animals and plants and then our eyes rise to meet ascended masters, diving beings and even sacred geometric forms at the painting's top.

And without eschewing the importance of the artistic and culturally iconic masterpiece that "Curved Knowedge" clearly is, each and every painting of Amaringo's students depicted in the exhibit are visionary masterpieces of their own. The purples, blues, greens, reds, oranges and yellows in all of these paintings are just so saturated that to view these paintings offers an experience with synesthesia. For no longer do you only "see" the rich colors but you and I can actually "feel" and "hear" the colors as they vibrate with unrelenting intensity. Spirit animals like the owl, the eagle, the cheetah and especially, the jaguar are common in these paintings as is the lush vegetation of the Peruvian rainforest.

Indeed, visionary paintings such as these are not typically found on the walls of most museums in the Western hemisphere. And according to Professor Olsen, the reason rests primarily in the fact that most of Western civilization is immersed in a dark and destructive energy that is pulling us from nature and our innate divinity. Far from being protectors of "Mother" nature, Western civilization has cast itself far afield of the Divine Feminine. Most of the populations of the Western hemisphere have become saboteurs of this beautiful planet and in losing our relationship with "Mother" nature we have virtually lost our connection to what the plants and animals can teach us about attaining the Logos.

Perhaps, there is no wonder that even in Christian societies most apparitions of the Logos (Jesus) and Divine beings such as the Virgin Mary manifest primarily amidst simple, indigenous and agrarian populations where there remains an intimate and enduring relationship with nature. The apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal to the shepherd children, Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin, Lucia Santos, are prime examples.

Undoubtedly, there is much to the belief that there is no way to the Father/the Son but through the Mother. And yet, according to Professor Olsen, the rigors of pursuing an ayahuasca retreat are many. Not only is the Peruvian rainforest far removed from the usual comforts of civilization but the average Westerner would probably be ill-advised to even entertain the possibility of such a journey. Professor Olsen advised that the ayahuasceros require a diet of extreme physical and sensual deprivations in order to prepare the body for such a profound activation of the third eye chakra.

But, a short trip to the DaSilva Gallery is certainly in order where you can enter a meditative state just by fixating on one of these magnificent artworks. Enter by the jaguar's mouth, the mouth of the cheetah or the headwaters of the Amazon. You won't be disppointed.

Authored by Donna Marie Joyce Copyright 2018

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Mysteries of the Balkans
works by three European Masters
Stoimen Stoilov, Diana Stoilova, & Margarita Voinova

Artists' Reception: Saturday, March 24, 2018 4:00 to 6:30 PM
Curated by: Johnes Ruta

Connecticut Hospice
100 Double Beach Rd
Branford, CT 06405


Click here for a printable single exhibition page.

Exhibition: February 27 to April 12, 2018 10AM - 8PM daily

Stoimen Stoilov - "Woman and Bird"
etching 31" x 24"



Stoimen Stoilov - "Power"
etching 32" x 26 1/2"

STOIMEN STOILOV was born in Varna, Bulgaria in 1944 and is a graduate of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria. He leads his visual articulations with a Surrealist nature, and works in his studio in Vienna.

For Stoimen, line is a justified dominating force, and his visions are rich with symbolism and indigenous history. His poetic visions encourage viewers to imagine mythic traditions and lore. He spent time living among the Aborigines in Australia, one of the many cultural influences in his work. His art has also been influenced by the poetry of friends like Lyubomir Levchev (b. 1935) Poet Laureate of Bulgaria, William Meredith (1919-2007) Poet Laureate of the United States 1978-1980, and the poet Richard Harteis (b.1946).

In 1991, Stoimen Stoilov was awarded Gottfried Von Herder Prize by The University of Vienna. His work resides in Museum of Graphic Arts Albertine, Vienna; the National Museums of Art in Sofia, Columbia, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland; the Pushkin Museum, Moscow; the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris; Yale University; the NY Public Library, and the U.S. Library of Congress, Washington. His most recent shows were a large 2015 retrospective, including two 8 foot wide murals at the Slater Museum in Norwich, and exhibitions at UCONN Avery Point, Groton, CT; New Haven, CT; and Westerly, RI.

Stoimen Stoilov is a first-class engraver for in his recent work he has attained a maturity of touch, an expressivity of line, and a dynamism of the imaginaire which transcends not only the frontiers of reality, but also those of forms. The work of Stoilov is marked by a new vision which scrutinizes the unequalled detail, the most obscure recesses of the body of the being, of the animal, of nature and environment. The minutae of details reveal, as under an X-ray, the articulations and body language of all our living bodies. If at times human beings and things appear in their skeletal elements, they do not for that reason fail to acquire a lightness which makes them float in space, a space overflowing the geometric forms of a picture, a diptych or triptych, to let themselves go freely in movement, in the conquest of new imaginary landscapes.

Margarita Voinova - "Dream Garden"
oil on board, 20" x 12"
Margarita Voinova - "Fairy Tale of Old"
oil on board, 20" x 12"


MARGARITA VOINOVA, younger sister of Stoimen Stoilov, was born in Varna, Bulgaria, where she lives and works. Her hand woven tapestries decorate many hotels, banks, restaurants and cultural clubs in Bulgaria and abroad. Her paintings and watercolors are in the possession of numerous galleries, museums, and private collections in Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Finland, USA, Australia and Lebanon. She finds in her works primary archaic signs, created in a pristine naive world bound to the mythology of Earth and Air. For the artist these signs, symbolizing birds, fish and human beings embody the primary idea of the Universe and the understanding among the formations of this world. These symbols are tranquil, intense, simple, tangible and understandable by all people. The artist finds these signs in the traditions of the world civilizations and in her own being. Her contact with the Australian aborigines and their art has been a unique experience. The harmony of colour and shape is striking, surprising, and after all, convincing: through her works, the artist starts a journey back to ancient civilizations, to a culture, shared by all people.



Diana Stoilova - "Fish"
oil on board, 18"h x 24"w


Diana Stoilova - "Window"
oil on board, 24"h x 18"h

DIANA STOILOVA, daughter of Stoimen Stoilov, lives and works in Vienna, Austria. She was among a small group of artists first shown at UCONN's Alexey Von Schlippe Gallery at Avery Point in Groton, CT in 2000, when this exhibition was visited by the Vice President of Bulgaria.

In 1994, she studied at the Academy of the Beaux Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she attended a Master Class for Pressure Graphics. In 1997, she studied at the Applied Arts in Vienna. Works of the artist are in the collections of the Graphics Museum Carpenter, Bath Steben, Germany, the Dialogue Foundation, Pris, France, the Griffis Art Center, New London, CT, and in other private collections.

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Exhibition: February 27 to April 12, 2018

Hours: Visiting Hours Daily 10AM - 8 PM

Curated by: Johnes Ruta, independent curator & art theorist
203.668.6933, http://AzothGallery.com/
azothgallery@comcast.net

Katherine Blossom, Arts Director
Connecticut Hospice

 
Richard Harteis, President of the William Meredith Foundation,
represnetative of the Stoilov's artwork in the United States.
 
 
 
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The Dream Life of Color
Art works by
Kristin Ambrosi, Kate Henderson, Herm Freeman

Artists' Reception: Saturday, November 18th, 2017, 4:00 to 6:30 PM.
Curated by: Johnes Ruta

Connecticut Hospice Gallery
100 Double Beach Rd
Branford, CT 06405
Directions

Exhibition: November 7 - December 30, 2017 10AM - 8PM daily

 


Kristen Ambrosi "Spacious" acrylic on canvas, 30" x 30”

KRISTEN AMBROSI
https://www.facebook.com/kristenambrosi

"Inspired by light, color, nature, music, and words, my work is an evolving exploration of the beauty within these elements, gathered and channeled into two dimensions. My intention is to leave the world more beautiful through painting. Creative expression has become my vocation, a sacred journey carried out through painted colors
across a canvas, sung notes in the air, and composed words on a page. My fundamental goal: to create harmonious canvases that resonate and vibrate, embracing the richness of human experience through exquisite use of color, light, and form.

"As a practitioner and instructor of yoga, the themes of balance and integration inspire and permeate my work. I repeatedly rotate the canvas while working towards a composition where the weight of color and contrast feel balanced. Intuitive abstractions emerge through layering.

"Metaphors for life, such as facing the unknown with courage, surrendering the outcome guided by the heart, quieting beliefs of what is correct to instead tune into what feels good, I use less representational imagery and more broad forms, and follow intuition about what comes next. This is a bold, scary, trusting, and exciting place from which to be working, and it is my hope that my paintings reflect the truth of that energy."

Ms. Ambrosi's artwork is in collections throughout the US and Europe. As a Visual Arts Graduate, she was Magna Cum Laude at Bowdoin College in Maine,and was Artist-in-Residence at Kent Island, Canada.


Kristen Ambrosi "Embrace" acrylic on canvas, 20"h x 30”w


KATE HENDERSON
http://www.cytoillusions.com/
http://www.kshenderson.com/

"I create environments from natural elements to give people a sense of place. Emotional essence and energy that connects us to each other and everything around us. My images both describe and celebrate the intrinsically aesthetic structure of the natural world and the ever-present duality in all things. I invite the viewer to see and feel the world both within us and around us, experiencing the macro vs microelements common to all.

"Materials are important to me. I maintain the integrity of whatever medium I use whether it’s pastel, paint or digital imaging. I want each medium to have it’s own unique characteristics to provoke the senses, be it optical impressions, viscosity, or the unspeakable sound of elements as they hit the surface."

"Great art picks up where nature ends.” -Marc Chagall


Kate Henderson "Monet Stones" cyto-digital print 24”h x 30"w

"Painting-with-cells" is how Ms. Henderson describes her cyto-Illusions series: "I start by using microscope images of human cells and also images of abstraction “found” in nature. Through layering and manipulation techniques, I create an image that mirrors micro images on a macro level. On one level the images are a colorful abstraction that allow the viewer to freely explore and experience the image on their own. Many images are suggestive of a specific element such as water, but others are more environmentally placed. On another level the images are about the reality of nature; cells of disease, the growth structure of plants, and the patterns of light filtered through the leaves."


Kate Henderson "Current Electric, Blue" cyto-digital print 24”h x 30"w

HERM FREEMAN
http://hermfreeman.com/

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Herm Freeman earned his Phi Beta Kappa degree from Queens College, C.U.N.Y. in 1969 and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Indiana University in 1971. He studied painting with several major American artists,including Fairfield Porter, George McNeil, James Brooks, James McGarrell, and Richard Serra.

He draws his landscape inspiration from the motifs of Soutine, Cezanne and Courbet. He is represented by Phil Demise's 'a' gallery in NYC, and exhibits his paintings primarily in NYC and the Northeast. Recently, he was awarded ‘Best in Show’ at the prestigious Silvermine 51st Art of the Northeast USA Annual Exhibition.


Herm Freeman "Cubist Suburb" acrylics on canvas 20"h x 24"w

Herm has been teaching art in Connecticut since 1973. In addition to his emotionally charged landscape painting, he has pursued his musical muse throughout the years; playing guitar, keyboards and vocals in the infamously obscure N.DoDoBand in 70's and 80's.


Herm Freeman "Promised Land" acrylics on canvas 18"h x 24"w

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Exhibition November 7 to 30, 2017

Hours: Visiting Hours Daily 10AM - 8 PM

 
 
 
Playhouse-on-the-Green 177 State Street, Bridgeport,CT, 2003 - 2007.
The York Square Gallery 61 Broadway, New Haven,CT, 1988 - 2005.