Photographer Joe Damone joined by his friend sculptor and painter John Sanders
Jen Ferguson’s ‘Last Sighting’ oil on canvas
By Robert Brune
ROXBURY — This past Saturday, artists and patrons of the arts were packed into the Walter Meade Gallery of the Roxbury Arts Center on an afternoon that began with passing snow squalls. Just prior to RAG opening the doors to the public, the skies dumped a half-inch of snow on the ground. By 3:15 pm the clouds parted and the stream of people attending filled the venue to see the 27 artists participating in this exhibition’s opening reception.
Executive Director Jenny Rosenzweig, in her announcement to the full gallery, expressed well-deserved appreciation to Ursula Hadak for curation of this excellent collection of eclectic artists of contemporary landscapes, abstracts, impressionists, collage, video art, and photography.
Jen Ferguson is an artist who grew up in the Hudson River Valley. Her art has been shown in Rhinebeck, Paris, and Los Angeles, and seen on HBO’s ‘Bored to Death’. This was the first time Ferguson has shown her work in Roxbury, “I’d been to the gallery before, and thought it was a beautiful space to show art. I love the theme of “Forgotten Spaces”, so I was thrilled to have my painting included in their exhibition.’ With her oil on canvas on display in this exhibition called ‘Last Sighting’, she describes this piece as leaving out detail and striving to keep the forms suggestive rather than defined, “In a way, my work is impressionist, but also influenced by the Barbizon School of painting, in which there’s an emphasis on subtle variations of light, atmosphere and depth- with a more subdued color palette than the Impressionists favored.” For a moment, upon gazing into this work of art, it was a relief to forget about the cold temperatures and escape in her warm color choices.
Joe Damone embarks on the very first showing of his marvelous photography with his ‘Winter Barn’ shot in the South Kortright area. Damone is very appreciative and stated, “Although I have been a professional commercial photographer for over 20 years photographing weddings, portraits, tourism, headshots, and real estate this is my first journey into the fine art world of photography. At the end of 2023, I decided to start printing work and purchased a Cannon professional inkjet printer and have been experimenting with different kinds of paper and ways to frame and present work. My first show started this week at Roxbury Arts Group’s Forgotten Spaces exhibit and I was thrilled to see my work presented in a gallery setting. Moving forward I will be working on a solo exhibit and will also present work for other group shows. Many thanks to RAG for the opportunity” It was nice to see John Sanders come out to support his friend Damone dipping his toe into the gallery arena in Roxbury. Damone is also known for performing with the Catskills Jazz Quartet throughout Delaware and Ulster County.
This is an exhibition with many of the artists we have featured in the Mountain Eagle and several new people; Laura Sue King, Gary Gissler, Brita Helgesen, Wenda Habenicht, Carrie Bobo, Jessica Farrell, Caitlin Parker, Elaine Grandy, Megan Irving, Wijnanda Deroo, Alexandra Bingham, Irene Dalski, Jody Isaacson, Nola Tully, Tabitha Gilmore-Barnes, Timothy Cleary, Rianna Pauline Starheim, Amy Masters, Helane Levine-Keating, Kathleen Sweeney, Bea Ortiz, Brita Helgesen, and Rebecca Andre. The backdrop for these great artists, Lauren Whritner’s sound installation of ‘Bittersweetness,’ provided the perfect complement to this exhibition. Again, great credit to Ursula Hadak for compiling the profiles in the handouts of each artist and their touching personal stories of ‘Forgotten Spaces’ preserved in their artwork.
For more information on this exhibition and other events with Roxbury Arts Groups: See www.roxburyartsgroup.org
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