Current Group Exhibition
Opening Reception Featuring “Jim Kociuba”
Saturday February 16th
2:00 – 4:00pm
Touch Art & Craft Gallery is pleased to present the February Group Exhibition showcasing 20 artists, including established gallery regulars and several newcomers to the gallery. The exhibition will feature painting, collage, and drawing, with works by the following artists:
Jim Kociuba; Painter
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Artist statement: Painting the local landscape has always held a fascination for me. My latest work has been inspired by the manmade and natural environments in and around Cambridge, Massachusetts. The interaction of land, sky, and water is a continual source of inspiration to view and attempt to capture. Lately, my interest has been on the wetland environments that are often passed by each day with little notice. These places are filled with plants and creatures of all sizes which depend on these habitats for nourishment and protection. With these paintings, I am hoping to bring the viewer closer to these spaces.
The process of painting brings me a closer to my neighborhood. When painting, it is easy to disconnect from the external and internal distractions of this civilized world. Working with paint creates a state of mind that is devoid of words, numbers, and problems. It is a wonderful state of being to explore and I believe that the world would be a better place if everyone could somehow find such peace.
Artist Workshop; March 2nd, 2:00-5:00 PM
Create your own masterpiece with local Cambridge Artist, Jim Kociuba. An expressive painting of the Weeks Foot Bridge in Cambridge entitled “Shower” will be produced. No Prior painting experience is needed.
Artist Talk; March 23th 2:00-4:00 PM
Linda-Ruth Salter; Sumi Ink Brush Painting
Artist statement: Her painting captures the essence of its subject. It is a good thing to paint a grasshopper that looks like a grasshopper; however, realism is unnecessary if you want a painting that conveys grasshopper-ness. To convey the essence of object and experience, the painter must capture the significant physical and experiential qualities. The grasshopper has strong back legs that are long and muscled; these enable it to jump long distances. The grasshopper has searchingly inquisitive feelers that reach out and up, quivering for information about the world. It the painting has these two pieces of information, it has captured grasshopper-ness. It works!…
Lynda Goldberg; Painter
“Her work is informed by nature. Whether working at the coast, in the colors of autumn, in the freshness of spring, or in the radiance of sunlight, I come to know myself and my goals as an artist.”
Her monotypes, oils, pastels, and watercolors focus on nature and her fascination with it. Her prints are one-of-a-kind; using monotype, monoprint, or collagraph techniques. She starts with an idea or feeling which she expresses in textures and colors using natural and manmade found objects. She is a tactile person, always touching things and feeling their texture. Because she is a printmaker she sees an item’s potential by how it might appear after color and pressure has been applied.
Iris Osterman; Painter
Streams, falls, rock formations and forests are the starting point of Osterman’s paintings. Working with a restricted palette in oil and encaustic, the images come from the land around her home in Massachusetts, where she has lived for the past two decades, as well as from trips to Maine, New York State and California.
Osterman writes, “I rely on observation of the natural world, but at the same time this is a meditation on the inner landscape. I prefer to interpret rather than record my surroundings. A language of black and white allows me to distill and select the elements of this landscape more deliberately. Balance and the rhythm of line and shape attract me to the subject .”
Fernando DeOliveira; Painter
In the amorphous of his painting, forms are either incoherent of irrelevant. The challenge of forming one of his painting is a succession of color and texture in pursuit of bringing light and life to the canvas. Thought the images are abstract, tangible feeling are provoked, which despite appearances are based on a rational structure, and bring the viewer inside his pictorial world… to his dimension.
Ann Salk Rosenberg; Painter
Her paintings are large, bold narratives. She uses vibrant colors, geometric shapes and a touch of humor to reflect her joyous spirit, celebrate her creativity and inhale the glorious fullness of life.
The inspiration for each painting comes from a place deep inside and gets channeled through her brush onto her canvas. The strokes come together and create a lyrical story. Sometimes the story is from her history, but often it is simply one drawn from our collective consciousness. It is as if she starts the process by accessing and then painting our universal memories, experiences and lessons. You, the viewer, then take up the story and it becomes your own.
Sharon L Smith; Figurative and Equine Sculptor
Among her favorite subjects are both horses and women, she love showing both their beauty and their strength. Her sculpture’s start with a feeling, emotion or movement she would like to convey. She was recently announced a winner in the “one of a kind” search of the magazine “Exploring TOSCA”. This magazine covers Theater, Opera, Shakespeare, Culture and Art for the Minnesota twin cities. Also, she was accepted a second time into the American Academy of Equine Art show, the first being in 2002.
The February Group Exhibition will present work by a number of artists who will return for solo shows over the coming months or the artist who past the solo show. Painter John Lobosco, whose colorful, contemporary takes on silkscreen will kick off March 14- April 10 in a solo exhibition at the gallery.
Joanne Tarlin, who had a solo show at the gallery during the January, is an American painter known internationally for her sophisticated use of color and ability to create dynamic yet subtle works. Joanne trained in industrial and graphic design and painting, and she studied color technique under Willem De Kooning.