VISUAL DESIGN: PATTERN
The first in a series of exhibits exploring the principles and elements of design, art above by Gwen Hendrix.
A new series of exhibits based on the visual elements and principles of design opens Thursday, September 7, 2017 from 5:30-8:30 pm at City Lights Gallery in Bridgeport.
ARTISTS' TALK FOLLOWS THE RECEPTION, 8-9 pm on 9/17
Executive Director Suzanne Kachmar is grateful to Jane Davila for contributing her curatorial skills to this collaboration which grew out of conversations regarding programs that explore the basic concepts of visual design.
The exhibit opens runs until October 13, 2017. Gallery hours are W-F, 11:30-5, Thursday until 7 pm and Sat 12-4 or by appointment. Call 203.334.7748. Visit www.citylightsgallery.org City Lights Gallery presents local, regional, and emerging artists to Bridgeport and its visitors. It provides opportunities for artists of all levels, backgrounds and abilities to present and sell their art.
The artists selected to participate in this exhibit are showing both large and small works that highlight the many facets Pattern and Texture, rendered in a variety of media from fiber art to painting to weaving. Participating artists include Adger Cowans and Liz Squillace of Bridgeport, Gwen Hendrix of Oxford, Norma Schlager of Danbury, and Tim Reimer of Stratford, Jahmane West of Norwalk.
ELEMENTS OF DESIGN:
The elements of design are “building blocks” and their arrangement forms the composition of a work of art. The principles of design are the guidelines used to compose the design elements. These elements of design are line, color, shape, value, size, and texture and the principles include balance, emphasis, harmony, rhythm, pattern, movement, proximity, repetition, variety, proportion, and space.
This first exhibit explores the Pattern. The principle of Pattern is constructed by repeating or echoing a form, shape, symbol or mark to create a sense of balance, harmony, contrast, rhythm, or movement.
PATTERN features 3 Bridgeport Art Trail artists.
Adger Cowans resides in his Bridgeport studio. He is a fine arts photographer and abstract expressionist painter has experimented with a myriad of mediums over his artistic career. He was the first Black stills photographer in the film industry. He is renowned in the world of photography and fine art, his works have been shown by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, International Museum of Photography, Museum of Modern Art, The Studio Museum of Harlem, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Harvard Fine Art Museum, Detroit Art Institue, James E. Lewis Museum and numerous other art institutions.
Read more about Adger below. View CBS new archive.
Liz Squillace also lives and works out of her Bridgeport studio and maintains a workshop in the historic downtown Arcade Mall. She is a painter, silkscreen printer and mural artist. Her most recent work is the visual transformation on the steps between Golden Hill St. and Elm St.in downtown Bridgeport. CT. Words cannot do it justice. The steps connect Elm St. and Golden Hill St. leading you to City Lights Gallery. Attendees can enjoy the neighboring steps as an exterior focal point of the exhibit.
Gwen Hendrix is an abstract painter, mixed media and fiber artist. She is a master of surface design. Her working studio is at the NEST Arts Factory in Bridgeport. http://caughtthreadhanded.com/gallery/
Image above by Gwen Hendrix
Co-curator Jane Davila is Bridgeport Art Trail working from her studio at the NEST Arts factory where she coordinates NEST art events and exhibits, teaches workshops, creates fiber art, prints, and graphic design work.
ADGER COWANS served in the United States Navy, he worked as a photographer before moving to New York, where he worked with Life magazine photographer Gordon Parks and fashion photographer Henri Clarke. He is the recipient of a John Hay Whitney Fellowship and the Martin Luther King, Jr., Caesar Chavez, Rosa Parks Visiting Scholars Award, Wayne State University.
https://www.cbsnews.com/videos/adger-cowans-photography-in-the-spotlight/
He attended Ohio University where he received a BFA in photography. He furthered his education at the School of Motion Picture Arts and School of Visual Arts in New York. While serving in the United States Navy, he worked as a photographer before moving to New York, where he later worked with Life magazine photographer, Gordon Parks and fashion photographer, Henri Clarke. Adger Cowans was awarded the Lorenzo il Magnifico alla Carriera in recognition of a Distinguished Career at the 2001 Florence Biennale of Contemporary Art.
At his first one man show at the Heliography Gallery in New York, Jacob Deschin of the New York Times described Cowans’ work as “Boldly inventive and experimental...and the artist is a craftsman to his fingertips.” Major exhibitions have included: “Committed to the Image” at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, “A History of African American Photographers”
Painted Stairway is a community mural by artist Liz Squillace in partnership with the social action network Bridgeport Generation Now! The risers of the Broad St. steps have been painted color by color throughout the summer and are finally complete. The unveiling is set to happen on Thursday, September 7th from 5-6pm.
PARKING
Ample, safe and lighted parking is available in the Lafayette Square Garage, located on Lafayette between Elm Street and Fairfield Avenue. There is also on-street metered parking and two lots across Golden Hill Street.
