A Painter, At Last

Susan Rand always wanted to paint. But despite a self-professed “strong visual awareness,†she thought she could not draw. “I thought you had to be born with it,†she said during a recent interview in her Salisbury studio.        

   So when Rand attended Goddard College, she studied sculpting and print making. Eventually, after she moved to the Northwest Corner and had children, she specialized in portrait photography. She was very good at it; her pictures were quirky and expressive, not the usual sweet fare. But she knew she wanted more.

   “I started hand-coloring the photographs and then I started painting on them and the more I painted the more I wanted to learn to draw.â€

     In 1999, when Rand was working as a real-estate agent, she fell off a scaffolding while photographing a house-in-progress. She landed in the hospital and remembers “my subconscious kept screaming, ‘go paint! go paint!’ †So she started painting, first taking classes locally, then thinking about graduate school and then deciding to “choose who to study with.â€

    She remembers wanting to make up for lost time, wanting to learn everything fast. “It was much harder than I thought it would be,†she said. “I realized, this is hard work. I know what I want to say, I just don’t have the capability to say it. Part of me said, ‘Slow down. Take it easy. Practice, practice, practice.†She did. And studied in Boston, in Vermont. Most recently Italy. “I’ll always be a student.â€

     In 2003, five years after she began to paint seriously, Rand had a show at the Norfolk Library. Susan Galluzo, co-director with husband Tino of Lake- ville’s White Gallery, saw the show, called Rand and  asked to represent her.    

   “I said, ‘You’re kidding.’ †They weren’t. Rand had her first show at the White Gallery two years ago, and will open her second there with Pine Plains sculptor Lyndon Preston this week, Sept. 6, with an artists’ reception Saturday, Sept. 8 from 5 to 7 pm., during Lakeville’s Gallery Night. (Coincidentally, a show of works by Ellen Emmet Rand, the grandmother of Susan’s husband, Salisbury’s First Selectman Curtis Rand, opened at the Hotchkiss School’s Tremaine Gallery on Tuesday, with a reception also from 5 to 7 on Saturday).

    Her show will be work from the last two years, not (or so she said before leaving) work she has done while away. “I don’t want the pressure of painting for the show,†she said.

     Her work now includes landscapes and rural and urban scenes, sometimes “with ugly buildings on the side.†What Rand is most interested in now is finding color patterns and shapes, “learning more about the quality of light and reflection . . . what lurks in the shadows.†She’s looking for an emotional response to what she sees, she says. “I don’t want to paint pretty pictures.â€

   Rand seems still somewhat  amazed that she’s doing what she always wanted to do and didn’t think she could.     

   So does she finally think of herself as a painter?  Rand takes a deep breath. “Yes. Yes, I do.† 

   Through Oct. 3. Hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. www.thewhitegalleryart.com.

    Other shows to be seen during Lakeville Gallery Night, Saturday, Sept. 8, 5-7 p.m.: “Copper Field Suite,†recent works by Eric Aho, are on view at Argazzi Art in Lakeville. Through Sept.30. Regular hours: Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.  p.m. Landscape artist Judith Belzer, Joe Goodwin’s surreal dreamscapes and Kit White’s inside-out landscapes are at Morgan Lehman Gallery. Through Oct. 7. Regular hours: Friday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. “The Connecticut Paintings of Ellen Emmet Rand,†are at the Tremaine Gallery at Hotchkiss School. Through Sept. 30. Regular hours: Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sunday, noon-4 p.m.wwwhotchkiss.org/arts. And something new: Agapanthus, which by day sells beautiful housewares, is hosting “Feathers & Fur,†black-and-white animal and bird portraits by Hank Meirowitz. Get a head start on Gallery Night there: Saturday’s  opening reception at Agapanthus  starts at 4 p.m. Through Oct. 31. Regular hours: Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tel: 860-435-8900.

    Bonus! Salisbury joins Gallery Night: Photographs of the late Inge Morath are on display at Joie de Livres, 7 Academy St. in Salisbury, with an opening reception Saturday, Sept. 8, 5-7 p.m. Weekends, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday and Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.,     wwwjoiedelivres.com.

    Elsewhere, around and about:

    Make it an art weekend! The works of Marjorie Fales, Nina Ritson and John Pirnak will be on display at Noble Horizons’ L3 Gallery, with an opening reception Friday, Sept. 7, from 5-7 p.m. Through Oct. 14. Regular hours are weekends, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Shelley Parriott’s fluid, shimmering steel mesh sculptures remain on view on the Noble grounds through Oct. 8.

    Painter Sarah Plimpton shows new works at the Ober Gallery at 14 Old Barn Road in Kent.

   The show opens on Friday, Sept. 7, with a reception on Saturday, Sept. 8, 3-6 p.m. (leaves time to go to Lakeville for Gallery Night!) Through Oct. 4. Hours: Wed.-Thurs., 1-4 p.m.; Fri.-Sun., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. www.obergallery.com. Paintings by Caroll Macdonald and sculpture by Paul Suttman remain on view at  the Morrison Gallery next door. Sorry, the artists reception has come and gone. Through Sept. 23. Hours:Wednesday-Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1-4 p.m.,           wwwthemorrisongallery.com.

     Anyone with weekday afternoon time available might want to pop into the Sharon Historical Society, to check out “Barnyard Beauties,†works by Sonia Halapin, Tillie Strauss, Shauna Shane and Joan Jardine. Who needs a county fair? You can visit these chickens, cows, horses and sheep on canvas (without the smell). Phyllis Diller has nothing on Halapin’s “Polish,†with its black and red comb and beady eye. That’s some rooster. Through Sept. 30. Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 1-4 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 23, 2-4 p.m.,                      www.sharonhist.org.