Trinity Lime Rock Marks Its 30th Year as Art Exhibitor

When Trinity Episcopal Church in the Lime Rock section of Salisbury, CT, began hosting regional art shows 30 years ago, there were few other places where local artists could show their work. None of the galleries we now visit in the Northwest Corner existed; the few that did are long gone. But Trinity Lime Rock continues to hold two major shows a year, an invitational exhibition at the end of summer and a juried show in October. Even with competition from shows in many town libraries, historical associations and commercial galleries, the Trinity exhibitions attract a loyal group of artists and an enthusiastic group of fans and buyers. The current summer show, which celebrates Trinity Art’s 30th anniversary, includes 21 painters and photographers showing both expected and, in some cases, surprising work. Tina Chandler, for example, has further developed her feathery touch with pastels in a group of lovely landscapes. Especially appealing is “Diabolo Road,” with its dusty throughway curving between gentle hills of pastel-colored grasses rendered in palpable crosshatching. John Pirnak is showing a luminous oil of a brown wolf’s head. The animal looks at us with sensitive eyes, its fur rich and lustrous, glowing from an unseen light source. Allen Blagden has entered a group of three etchings and an oil. “Saranac,” obviously done from nature at the famous lake, is masterful; “Two Black Cats” rises above the ordinary with charm and skill. Among the interesting photographs in the show is “After the Blizzard – Panorama 2011” by Michael Brown. The wide image captures the still, quiet beauty of a long, low building thawing in the morning sun after the huge snowstorm. Gary Halby’s “Room with a View, Venice, Italy” is a striking composition of the Venetian Lagoon seen through a demilune window, the water a bright but pale blue under unseen sun, the interior beneath the window dark, with sky reflected on a polished wooden bench. Among Steve Potter’s photos is a delightful image of a quirkily tall, slender building standing alone beside a country “Road to Edinburgh 2013.” Potter also shows a group of matted, binned images from many cities that all show his eye for composition. Then there are the dog photos from Don Perdue, the landscape photographer whose work is in the collections of both the Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum. At Lime Rock, Perdue is showing images of his neighbor’s four boxers — one has died since being photographed — taken head-on. Perdue then painted the photograph of each dog in a different costume he found in a famous painting of royalty. So there is the serious boxer in Henry VIII splendor, as if he has just sat for Hans Holbein, and a female boxer in tasseled cap and fitted coat with military decoration from a picture of Catherine the Great. They may not be William Wegman’s famous Weimaraners, but they are charming none the less. Trinity Lime Rock Art Show continues at the church gallery, 484 Lime Rock Road, Lakeville, CT, Aug. 29 through Sept. 1, noon to 4 p.m. each day.