This Saturday, April 26th, marks the opening of Of Two Minds: Artists Who Do More Than One of a Kind at browngrotta arts, 276 Ridgefield Road, Wilton, CT. Open for just 10 days, Of Two Minds features 25 international artists working in a a variety of media, including, glass, wood, watercolor, metal and fiber. The artists in the exhibition show remarkable range, working in different mediums, mastering different techniques and materials and creating complementary or contrasting works along the way. “Painters paint, sculptors sculpt, but the textile and mixed media artists in Of Two Minds are less restricted by material or technique,” explains browngrotta arts’ co-curator, Tom Grotta. “Represented in major museums, these artists weave, plait, knit, crochet, stitch and felt and also carve, construct, draw, dye, weld and paint.” Each artist in Of Two Minds has provided at least two contrasting works — several will exhibit more than two.
Detail of MarianBijlenga installation of glass and fiber, photo by Tom Grotta
Marian Bijlenga, of the Netherlands, has sent a stitched work of horsehair, one of fish scales, a wall assemblage of glass “doodles” resulting from her glass experiments and also two glass sculptures.
Tissus d’ombres, detail, Stéphanie Jacques’,photo by Tom Grotta
Stéphanie Jacques of Belgium exhibits clay-coated and textile-edged woven baskets, with wood-worked bases along with a stitched photographic print.
Vanishing and Emerging installation detail by Hideho Tanaka, photo by Tom Grotta
Hideho Tanaka of Japan combines a large patched linen weaving with sculptures of torched paper and steel.
detail of Lawrence LaBianca installation from Of Two Minds, photo by Tom Grotta
Lawrence LaBianca of California exhibits works combining glassblowing, prints, wood and metal work. LaBianca’s Skiff is interactive, when a viewer picks up the phone, he or she can hear the rushing river that inspired the work. The full list of participating artists is:
Dona Anderson (US), Dorothy Gill Barnes ( US), Dail Behennah (UK), Nancy Moore Bess (US), Marian Bijlenga (NL), Birgit Birkkjaer (DK), Gali Cnaani (IL), Agneta Hobin (FI), Stéphanie Jacques (BE), Tamiko Kawata (JP), Naomi Kobayashi (JP), Kyoko Kumai (JP), Lawrence LaBianca(US), Gyöngy Laky(US), Sue Lawty (UK), John McQueen (US), Norma Minkowitz (US), Scott Rothstein (US), Axel Russmeyer (DE), Hisako Sekijima (JP), Karyl Sisson (US), Jin-Sook So (JP), Hideho Tanaka (JP), Deborah Valoma (US) and Grethe Wittrock (DK).
Wave Hill Breads
The Artists Reception and Opening begins at 12 p.m. on Saturday. Several of the artists will be in attendance including, Tamiko Kawata (US), Norma Minkowitz (US) , Sue Lawty (UK) and John McQueen (US). We’ll also be tasting artisan breads from Wave Hill Breads. From Sunday the 27th through Sunday, May 4th, our hours will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. or by appointment. Call us at 203-834-0623 if you wish to come earlier or later. We are at work on a catalog for the exhibition which you can purchase at bga or online after May 1st. For more information visit: http://browngrotta.com/Pages/newthisweek.php.