BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – Canal Street Art Gallery presents the Joshua Aaron Gray, Theresa Karpinski, Kathleen Kemp, Amy Raab, and Sandy Sherman solo shows, open Nov. 15 – Jan. 12. Join the gallery on Third Friday Gallery Night in historic downtown Bellows Falls, Vt., on Nov. 15, from 5-8 p.m., for the artists’ opening reception. All gallery events are free and open to the public, for wheelchair accessibility call 802-289-0104.
This fall, with the launch of its new Solo Show Program and growing Working Artist Program, Canal Street Art Gallery announces expanded hours. As of Nov. 15, the gallery will be open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.; and the third Friday of every month, until 8 p.m.
Joshua Aaron Gray, based in Bellows Falls, Vt., works in watercolors, creating portraits of animals and, most recently, people. Gray was born with Down syndrome in 1972. He loves life, hugs, adventures, nature, animals, his family and friends, cooking and eating, hiking, and biking. Gray is passionate about his art, using his whimsical humor and kindness to portray animals instilled with personality and surrounded by colorful and often densely composed designs and patterns. Subjects include domestic, wild, and fantastic animals from around the world. Gray is a prolific artist, and wishes to share his art to make people joyful and happy. The artist’s solo show at Canal Street Art Gallery includes Gray’s first portraits of people, including his favorite celebrity, Madonna.
Theresa Karpinski, based in Brattleboro, Vt., makes three-dimensional collages using multitudes of minute objects meticulously painted with garish colors and arranged into bizarre and sometimes subversive scenes. Blending lightheartedness and seriousness is how Karpinski views life, as well as her process of creating. In artworks such as “Jungle Pitch,” a blue-eyed, long-haired man with voluptuous red lips and holding a glass of wine with hands painted in red nail polish stares down the viewer. This subject of portraiture is surrounded by a menagerie of animals, buildings, and a tree bare of its leaves. The animals include a reindeer, five cats – one adorned with wings, another with a cross, and another with a Santa Claus hat – along with a dog in a baker’s hat, an owl, a pheasant, a chipmunk, and a smiling snake. The scene shows a welcome mat, a colonial house, the United States Capitol building flying a flag with only stripes, wrapped gifts, a Christmas tree, and a church. Karpinski is newly represented by Canal Street Art Gallery.
Kathleen Kemp, based in Westminster, Vt., works with “attic treasures” to create sculptures using a wide array of textures and vastly different materials, harmoniously assembled as a puzzle with pieces meant to be together. In an artwork such as “AZ1,” Kemp uses found pieces of metal and wood from previously manufactured purposes, along with organic materials such as human teeth, to create a composition full of tactile tension, tenuously placed together and hung on the wall. Kemp recently relocated from Arlington, Mass., where she began scavenging for old, forgotten, or displaced objects while directing a geriatric care management practice and carrying a respect for the stories, imagined and real, from elders and old objects and places.
Amy Raab, based in Saxtons River, Vt., works with her own photographs and watercolor paintings to create collages inspired by memories of the Vermont landscape. Raab’s compositions make use of vast open spaces to balance strategically chosen, intricately and meticulously cut shapes assembled with just enough for the viewer to see a landscape. Upon closer examination, such as in “One Horse Hill,” the viewer then discovers the red barn to be a macro shot of a red maple leaf, and the tree is cut from a photograph of a horse. Raab recently relocated from Massachusetts, and continues her 35-year career as a photographer. Raab is newly represented by Canal Street Art Gallery.
Sandy Sherman, based in Bellows Falls, Vt., creates still life paintings using effects of light and color to portray tenuous scenes of everyday objects, vintage clothing, and unique antiques. In a painting such as “The Monkey,” an antique Steiff monkey is placed in a wallpaper-lined box on a shelf. The monkey has its palms up, and is placed on its knees with a distant look, as if meditating. A red apple sits on top of the box, while a purple ribbon falls from its bottom, and a red candle shows a waft of smoke after having just been extinguished. Sherman is a native of New Hampshire, and has been painting in the traditional manner since 1980. The artist studied for three years with Richard Whitney, where she learned the basics of classical realism. She also studied with Debbie Crowder and Peter Granucci. She is a member of the Keene Art Association, Copley Society of Boston, Women’s Caucus for Art, Academic Artist Association, and the Catharine Lorillard Wolf Art Club Inc. Sherman is newly represented by Canal Street Art Gallery.
Canal Street Art Gallery is located at 23 Canal Street, in historic downtown Bellows Falls, Vt., and is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.; and the third Friday of every month, until 8 p.m. For more information about the Joshua Aaron Gray, Theresa Karpinski, Kathleen Kemp, Amy Raab, and Sandy Sherman solo shows, go to www.canalstreetartgallery.com, call 802-289-0104, or email artinfo@canalstreetartgallery.com.