Images that amuse and inspire June 8 - July 16
"Lili #1, digital photograph by Carl Keitner
Polly Seip
Guest Artist
My ‘Nocturnes’ series draws inspiration from my own surroundings of the blue-collar town Uncasville, Connecticut, as well as my love of light and its play through darkness during the twilight and night hours while exploring the quiet stillness found in between the chaotic and demanding nature of our modern day lives.
This series is painted from my own observation, memory, feeling, imagination and photographic reference. I have always admired and gravitated towards a fusion of new and old painting techniques that I find stimulating — such as evocative composition, quality of light, color theory, varying format sizes, sense of atmosphere and sophisticated use of paint textures, thick and thin.
Born in 1977 in Pittsburgh, PA, Seip has lived in Connecticut since 1996. She graduated from the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in 2000 with a BFA in painting. Seip’s current gallery representation includes the Stonington Gallery, Susan Powell Fine Art, Sylvan Gallery, Trade Winds Gallery. Seip is also a recipient of the Stacey Scholarship Fund and the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation.
"Crescent Moon Over Uncasville,"
oil painting by Polly Seip
Carl Keitner
IFA Exhibiting Artist
Inspired by Man Ray, who was reported to have said that he wanted “to make images that could amuse, inspire reflection not arouse admiration for any technical excellence,” Carl Keitner set about to make images for this exhibit with Lili, his 14-year-old step granddaughter, at Jack’s Salvage, an auto graveyard on Metacom Avenue in Bristol. There, he found inspiration in the juxtaposition of the red-headed Lili clad in a spotless white dress amidst the greasy and rusting cars.
He says, “I have no specific media preferences, no interest in repeating any style. I like to discover and immerse myself in what my strange mind comes up with, so I still take photographs, but also create sculptures, mixed media paintings and manipulate my photos on two dimensional surfaces. Right now, I’m making walking canes called Able Canes from felled branches, made from native Barrington boughs.”
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Born in Budapest, Hungary, a few months after the end of World War II, Carl Ketner and his family escaped to Montreal as a young boy during the 1956 uprising against the Soviet occupation. After graduating from the Ecole des Beaux Arts with a fine arts degree, he worked as an art director for several national magazines and ad agencies and eventually opened and operated his own graphic design business.
He emigrated to the United States in 1990 and set up a photography studio in Providence specializing in black-and-white portraiture. He closed the studio in 2008 and began a more personal exploration of the visual arts.Carl Keitner taught photography at the Learning Connection for years and has traveled to Cuba many times and exhibited photographs from there and is now an exhibiting artist at Imago where he says, “Whatever I come up with next will be on exhibit.”
"Graffiti," high-fire stoneware by Chryssa Udvardy
Chryssa Udvardy
Guest Artist
Chryssa Udvardy’s creative inspiration comes from the elegance of simplicity and the endless potential hidden within it.
Her sculptural works are a tactile exploration of form, line and edge. In this body of work, she continues to explore form, line, and edge. The work juxtaposes rough interior textures against smooth glossy exteriors. These surfaces are transformed by the introduction of tool markings, metallic glaze, and the edge. The results are an unexpectedly rugged and industrial expression of entirely organic forms.
A Rhode Island native, Chryssa Udvardy earned a BFA in sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design, where she studied ceramics, glass and industrial design. She holds an MLA from UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design in Landscape Architecture, and has studied at Pilchuck Glass School, California College of the Arts, and Rhode Island College.
She is a resident of Bristol with her ceramic studio located in Warren, where she uses slip casting and hand building techniques, offering classes and private instruction. She is a founding member of Hotpoint Emporium Artist Collaborative in Bristol.