One Peaceable Kingdom, 9/19/24 - 10/26/24
Artists: Beth DiCara, Cheryl Hochberg, Claire McConaughy, Pat Brentano, Shelley Haven, Terri Amig
Curated by Anne Trauben
Curated by Anne Trauben
image by Terri Amig
DRAWING ROOMS
926 Newark Ave, #T101
Jersey City, NJ Enter on Newark Ave.
www.drawingrooms.org
ABOUT THE ARTIST RECEPTION
Please join us for a reception for the artists on Saturday, 9/21/24, 6-8p
Artists Panel Discussion:
Sunday, 10/13/24, 3-5p
926 Newark Ave, #T101
Jersey City, NJ Enter on Newark Ave.
www.drawingrooms.org
ABOUT THE ARTIST RECEPTION
Please join us for a reception for the artists on Saturday, 9/21/24, 6-8p
Artists Panel Discussion:
Sunday, 10/13/24, 3-5p
Drawing Rooms is excited to announce our Fall exhibit, “One Peaceable Kingdom” in both The Terrarium Gallery and The Alcove Gallery.
This is a perfect time to contemplate a vision of peace and harmony on earth.
Inspired by folk artist Edward Hicks’ iconic Peaceable Kingdom paintings, a series of more than 60 versions of an allegory of spiritual and earthly tranquility and unity– six artists works come together in Drawing Rooms exhibition "One Peaceable Kingdom", featuring anthropomorphized animals in a bucolic, lush and other-worldly natural landscape. This immersive and thought-provoking exhibition includes painting, ceramic sculpture, drawing, printmaking and collage by artists Beth DiCara, Cheryl Hochberg, Claire McConaughy, Pat Brentano, Shelley Haven and Terri Amig. Curated by Anne Trauben.
Terri Amig makes paintings that have the viewer staring deep into the eyes and soul of her animals in a loving way, similar to the way one feels while looking at Cheryl Hochberg's animals. There's no other way to feel but compassion for these animals. Terri’s “Amour” has us falling in love with her deer that looks at us in the most tender and gentle way. The deep red flowered background is enveloping. “Heavenly Bodies” feels epic, maybe even biblical, in the mysterious way the sun sets behind the two sheep who look at one another with sweetness and a sense of regalness and whose textured fur you can feel– even though you are not allowed to touch. Terri’s work is “based on the laws of nature that bind us all, whether we walk with no legs, two legs, or four legs, looking to the patterns of sound and light and the physics behind them for a baseline.”
Claire McConaughy observes the natural world, dives into the history of American landscape painting and the process of painting, and adds her own invention. Claire’s works are lush and dense and make one feel that they have walked into and become one with the green forest that surrounds them. Claire’s source material comes from the nature around her, sidewalk trees, and the woods. Claire’s large-scale gestural paintings “Meet Me at the Tree” and “Climbing the Hill” are paired at the entrance of The Terrarium Gallery. These dramatic scenes of green, blue and purple are stunning.
Beth DiCara’s animal heads hang on the wall and may remind one of hunting trophies, but are made to honor animals with kindness, compassion and respect. You’ll also find a few pieces in the show that are self standing, and one relief. Among Beth’s mounted animals, one can find a friendly, if not downright goofy, bear, a silly chimpanzee, a cow (who could have jumped out of
Terri Amig’s painting “Speaking From One Mind”), a fox, giraffe, mounted owl, puffin, rabbit, ram, goat head with beautiful antlers, rhino with a beautiful horn, and zebra. Beth’s self-standing pieces include “Billy the Kid” (a goat, of course), a snowy owl, “Wilbur” (the pig, of course), and a relief “Woodland Friends”, which captures a secret moment between a wolf and bear deep in conversation, while a young woman reads a book, and a deer sleeps nearby.
Cheryl Hochberg spends time in unfamiliar places photographing nature and the wildlife she encounters. For Cheryl, “animal watching is something of a spiritual practice that teaches empathy and skills that I use in all interactions”. Her “I Will Protect” greets visitors in the entrance of Drawing Rooms in The Alcove Gallery, and has an other-worldly feel in its scale and content– the sky is dark and moody above a mythic landscape with two birds flying, while a deer, encircled in a gold ring, is frozen in a moment gracefully turned to the side while staring directly into your eyes. “Bedfellows” depicts a buffalo and yellow finch under a dark sky and planetary diagram. This large painting has an astrological-chart feel and a near photo-realistic sensibility. Cheryl’s sensitively executed nature-themed works incorporate painting, printmaking and collage.
Pat Brentano makes intricate, evocative and moody drawing, painting, collage and cut paper pieces about nature, with a focus on trees. According to Pat, "Nothing is as it seems on first appearance. It takes time to shift from looking at the natural world to seeing it as part of a larger abstraction. Nature is not neat. It is tangled, dense and ever changing. Each tree has its own gesture reaching for the sun, and its own way of anchoring to the ground. The linear layering of limbs in winter is as visually exciting as the canopy of leaves that bloom in spring. Each season presents a different metaphor for my visual experience." Pat’s “Buffy” is a small, but strong, densely layered collage which overlaps heavyweight cut-paper shaped leaves and branches loosely painted in greens, yellows and browns. “Autumn Gestures” is a striking ink drawing with graphic lines of different toned browns. “Bird in Trees” is a large cut shoji paper piece in stark white. The negative space of the piece creates lovely shadows.
Shelley Haven is “fascinated by the fragile beauty and awesome power of nature. Her work explores, chronicles and shares her journey of discovery in the natural world, bringing memories of gardens and parklands, mountain and shoreline hikes, while acknowledging the continuity of the landscape and its perpetual transformation”. Shelley’s “Grand Canyon of Yellowstone” I-IV, as well as “Montana DeOro Remembered” I-IV, takes us along on her travels, allowing us to peer over the edge of the multi-colored and textured boulders and down the path into the flowing waters.
Drawing Rooms takes the liberty of adding an animal and nature soundscape to the background of this exhibition to create an installation of sorts, in the hopes the viewer can allow themselves to have a transporting experience.
Because that's what this show is about at its core– a transporting experience and a metaphor for finding peace, humanity and compassion for one another in today’s troubled world. The meaning of peace can vary depending on a person's perspective, such as their religious beliefs, political views, or theoretical framework. Some believe peace is a human right while others believe it's a moral right and aspiration or that it must be earned. “One Peaceable Kingdom” presents animals and magical landscapes as a starting point to approach this idea. The exhibition hopes to take the viewer to a peaceful place within themselves, and to then take that peacefulness to others in the world in which we live. Animals have lived thousands of years. They're smart and instinctual, often forming close long-term relationships while getting along with one another so both parties benefit. In other relationships, one species may hunt another, compete for resources, work together for mutual benefit, or one of them benefits, while the other is harmed. The animals in this exhibition coexist, survive, thrive and want to make us be better people.
It is our hope that viewers can immerse themselves into our “One Peaceable Kingdom” replete with stunning nature and majestic animals and learn. “One Peaceable Kingdom” asks us to start with the animals, and keep an open mind.
Anne Trauben
Artist, Curator, Gallery Director
ABOUT THE ARTIST RECEPTION
Please join us for a reception for the artists on Saturday, 9/2124, 6-8p.
This is a perfect time to contemplate a vision of peace and harmony on earth.
Inspired by folk artist Edward Hicks’ iconic Peaceable Kingdom paintings, a series of more than 60 versions of an allegory of spiritual and earthly tranquility and unity– six artists works come together in Drawing Rooms exhibition "One Peaceable Kingdom", featuring anthropomorphized animals in a bucolic, lush and other-worldly natural landscape. This immersive and thought-provoking exhibition includes painting, ceramic sculpture, drawing, printmaking and collage by artists Beth DiCara, Cheryl Hochberg, Claire McConaughy, Pat Brentano, Shelley Haven and Terri Amig. Curated by Anne Trauben.
Terri Amig makes paintings that have the viewer staring deep into the eyes and soul of her animals in a loving way, similar to the way one feels while looking at Cheryl Hochberg's animals. There's no other way to feel but compassion for these animals. Terri’s “Amour” has us falling in love with her deer that looks at us in the most tender and gentle way. The deep red flowered background is enveloping. “Heavenly Bodies” feels epic, maybe even biblical, in the mysterious way the sun sets behind the two sheep who look at one another with sweetness and a sense of regalness and whose textured fur you can feel– even though you are not allowed to touch. Terri’s work is “based on the laws of nature that bind us all, whether we walk with no legs, two legs, or four legs, looking to the patterns of sound and light and the physics behind them for a baseline.”
Claire McConaughy observes the natural world, dives into the history of American landscape painting and the process of painting, and adds her own invention. Claire’s works are lush and dense and make one feel that they have walked into and become one with the green forest that surrounds them. Claire’s source material comes from the nature around her, sidewalk trees, and the woods. Claire’s large-scale gestural paintings “Meet Me at the Tree” and “Climbing the Hill” are paired at the entrance of The Terrarium Gallery. These dramatic scenes of green, blue and purple are stunning.
Beth DiCara’s animal heads hang on the wall and may remind one of hunting trophies, but are made to honor animals with kindness, compassion and respect. You’ll also find a few pieces in the show that are self standing, and one relief. Among Beth’s mounted animals, one can find a friendly, if not downright goofy, bear, a silly chimpanzee, a cow (who could have jumped out of
Terri Amig’s painting “Speaking From One Mind”), a fox, giraffe, mounted owl, puffin, rabbit, ram, goat head with beautiful antlers, rhino with a beautiful horn, and zebra. Beth’s self-standing pieces include “Billy the Kid” (a goat, of course), a snowy owl, “Wilbur” (the pig, of course), and a relief “Woodland Friends”, which captures a secret moment between a wolf and bear deep in conversation, while a young woman reads a book, and a deer sleeps nearby.
Cheryl Hochberg spends time in unfamiliar places photographing nature and the wildlife she encounters. For Cheryl, “animal watching is something of a spiritual practice that teaches empathy and skills that I use in all interactions”. Her “I Will Protect” greets visitors in the entrance of Drawing Rooms in The Alcove Gallery, and has an other-worldly feel in its scale and content– the sky is dark and moody above a mythic landscape with two birds flying, while a deer, encircled in a gold ring, is frozen in a moment gracefully turned to the side while staring directly into your eyes. “Bedfellows” depicts a buffalo and yellow finch under a dark sky and planetary diagram. This large painting has an astrological-chart feel and a near photo-realistic sensibility. Cheryl’s sensitively executed nature-themed works incorporate painting, printmaking and collage.
Pat Brentano makes intricate, evocative and moody drawing, painting, collage and cut paper pieces about nature, with a focus on trees. According to Pat, "Nothing is as it seems on first appearance. It takes time to shift from looking at the natural world to seeing it as part of a larger abstraction. Nature is not neat. It is tangled, dense and ever changing. Each tree has its own gesture reaching for the sun, and its own way of anchoring to the ground. The linear layering of limbs in winter is as visually exciting as the canopy of leaves that bloom in spring. Each season presents a different metaphor for my visual experience." Pat’s “Buffy” is a small, but strong, densely layered collage which overlaps heavyweight cut-paper shaped leaves and branches loosely painted in greens, yellows and browns. “Autumn Gestures” is a striking ink drawing with graphic lines of different toned browns. “Bird in Trees” is a large cut shoji paper piece in stark white. The negative space of the piece creates lovely shadows.
Shelley Haven is “fascinated by the fragile beauty and awesome power of nature. Her work explores, chronicles and shares her journey of discovery in the natural world, bringing memories of gardens and parklands, mountain and shoreline hikes, while acknowledging the continuity of the landscape and its perpetual transformation”. Shelley’s “Grand Canyon of Yellowstone” I-IV, as well as “Montana DeOro Remembered” I-IV, takes us along on her travels, allowing us to peer over the edge of the multi-colored and textured boulders and down the path into the flowing waters.
Drawing Rooms takes the liberty of adding an animal and nature soundscape to the background of this exhibition to create an installation of sorts, in the hopes the viewer can allow themselves to have a transporting experience.
Because that's what this show is about at its core– a transporting experience and a metaphor for finding peace, humanity and compassion for one another in today’s troubled world. The meaning of peace can vary depending on a person's perspective, such as their religious beliefs, political views, or theoretical framework. Some believe peace is a human right while others believe it's a moral right and aspiration or that it must be earned. “One Peaceable Kingdom” presents animals and magical landscapes as a starting point to approach this idea. The exhibition hopes to take the viewer to a peaceful place within themselves, and to then take that peacefulness to others in the world in which we live. Animals have lived thousands of years. They're smart and instinctual, often forming close long-term relationships while getting along with one another so both parties benefit. In other relationships, one species may hunt another, compete for resources, work together for mutual benefit, or one of them benefits, while the other is harmed. The animals in this exhibition coexist, survive, thrive and want to make us be better people.
It is our hope that viewers can immerse themselves into our “One Peaceable Kingdom” replete with stunning nature and majestic animals and learn. “One Peaceable Kingdom” asks us to start with the animals, and keep an open mind.
Anne Trauben
Artist, Curator, Gallery Director
ABOUT THE ARTIST RECEPTION
Please join us for a reception for the artists on Saturday, 9/2124, 6-8p.
Beth DiCara
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Cheryl Hochberg
|
Claire McConaughy
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Pat Brentano
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Shelley Haven
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ABOUT US
Drawing Rooms is a nonprofit art space and gallery in the Topps Building on the Mana Campus in the Journal Square neighborhood in Jersey City. We show two and three-dimensional works by emerging and mid-career artists in NJ and the NY metropolitan area. Our innovative and exciting exhibitions, public programs and publications enrich the lives of our community through an appreciation of and involvement with contemporary art.
Drawing Rooms is operated by Victory Hall Inc. a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization producing exhibitions, programs and public art projects in the NJ/NY area since 2001.
Drawing Rooms is a nonprofit art space and gallery in the Topps Building on the Mana Campus in the Journal Square neighborhood in Jersey City. We show two and three-dimensional works by emerging and mid-career artists in NJ and the NY metropolitan area. Our innovative and exciting exhibitions, public programs and publications enrich the lives of our community through an appreciation of and involvement with contemporary art.
Drawing Rooms is operated by Victory Hall Inc. a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization producing exhibitions, programs and public art projects in the NJ/NY area since 2001.
