Paper, Porcelain And Layers of Color

 

At Lakeville’s Morgan Lehman Gallery, "Consumately Aesthetic," according to the gallery’s press materials, takes its inspiration from the late-19th-century, largely British aesthetic movement, which incorporated fine art, sculpture and furnishings. It celebrated craftsmanship and a life of integrated beauty. Together, the three artists in the show — Mary Chatham, Katia Read and Wendy Small — celebrate color, form and yes, beauty. Rather than separating them, curator Lisa Marks has grouped the artists’ work together in each of the gallery’s three rooms, which seems just right.

 

Small’s color photograms are of three-dimensional objects she places on paper and then photographs; the result is images that are very flat, two-dimensional and eerily lovely. Her color pieces, of birds in various stages of flight among butterflys and flora, are executed in vivid colors. The birds are not just blue but tourquoise; the butterflies are Kelly green with bright yellow wing tips; the vines are hot summer greens and yellows. Her black-and-white pieces, also of birds and vines, look a bit more like conventional photographs but are stunning. They have a lush and dangerous feel.

Chatham’s three unglazed porcelain pieces in the first room are round or cylindrical, no taller than a foot, covered in tiny cups of porcelain or small cylindrical shapes, attached so that they stick out, like a porcelain porcupine. Together, the forms and their attached parts, all in white, cast wonderful shadows. (They instantly bring to mind the work of paper artist Jaq Belcher, currently showing at Argazzi Art around the corner in Lakeville). In the second room, Chatham shows flowers of the same material, and in the third room are what look like twisted piles of fossilized seaweed, or coral. These pieces somehow are both sturdy and fragile.

Read’s mixed media works are in simple wood box frames; they consist of strips of colored or painted paper, grouped together and allowed to dry with edges curled. Some are arranged inside cardboard boxes before framing: a box within a box. By the third room, her pieces are round and oval pieces of paper, layered in increasingly larger sizes in various, mostly related, shades of colors. Indeed, each piece has its own number but are almost all titled "Color Study." They’re reminiscent of the exercise beginning artists are put through in the classroom: to paint sheets of paper, cut them into shapes and place various colors near one another to see how they affect one another. Here Read has taken that "color 101" class to the hilt. Through Aug. 16. Hours: Thursday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. www.morganlehmangallery.com/ct. Tel.: 860-435-0898.

Elsewhere, around and about:

Opening this weekend: paintings and drawings by Lakeville artist Alan McCord at the

align=leftopening this weekend: paintings and drawings by lakeville artist alan mccord at the >

style="font-size: 10pt", "consumately aesthetic," according to the gallery’s press materials, takes its inspiration from the late-19th-century, largely british aesthetic movement, which incorporated fine art, sculpture and furnishings. it celebrated craftsmanship and a life of integrated beauty. together, the three artists in the show — mary chatham, katia read and wendy small — celebrate color, form and yes, beauty. rather than separating them, curator lisa marks has grouped the artists’ work together in each of the gallery’s three rooms, which seems just right. >

Norfolk Libraryon the Green. The show opens Aug. 2, with an artist’s reception on Aug. 3, from 4-6 p.m. Through Sept. 4. Hours are daily library hours. Tel.: 860-542-5075.

 

In West Cornwall,

Northern Exposure Galleryopens a new show, "In Black and White," on Aug. 2, with an artist’s reception that day from 3-6 p.m. Through Sept. 21. Hours: Friday-Sunday, noon-5:30 p.m. www.northernexposurephotogallery.com. Tel.: 860-672-2969. The iO galleryon Rt. 7 in Cornwall Bridge has a new show, "Local Masters," which includes painters Frank Bramble, Frank Federico and Peter Seltzer, along with sculptor Patrick Purcell. Through Aug. 31. www.theiogallery.com. Tel.: 860-672-6631.