Concurrence Opens at RAG
“Concurrence,” a joint exhibit of paintings and prints by artists Gerda van Leeuwen and Lisbeth Firmin opens the gallery season at The Roxbury Arts Group’s Walt Meade Gallery on Saturday, March 15th. The opening reception will be on the 15th from 2-4 pm. The exhibit will run through April 21.
Both artists are masters of color and contrast and the exhibit promises to be an engrossing counter play of compelling abstractions, landscapes and figurative works.
 |
| Lisbeth Firmin , Young Man, Chinatown |
Firmin, who makes her home in Franklin, NY, is a contemporary American realist who shows regularly in New York City, Provincetown, Seattle and Santa Fe. For over three decades her work has been in hundreds of solo and group shows across the country and internationally. Her monoprints were featured in a solo exhibition in Lima, Peru, at the Institute of Culture in 1999. Her most recent solo show was at the Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe, NM in December, 2007.
Awards include a 2007 New York State Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for printmaking, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, the New York Print Club Emerging Artist Award, the CCVA Award (awarded by Michael Gitlitz, Director, Marlborough Gallery) at the Chautauqua Center for the Visual Arts, first prize of $5000.00 in the LANA International Arts Competition (awarded by Wayne Thiebaud) along with full fellowships to the MacDowell Colony, National Seashore Residency, the Vermont Studio Center and the Saltonstall Arts Colony. She has been a guest artist (printmaking) at the Vermont Studio School from 2001 to 2004. Her work is in several public collections including the New York Historical Society, Fleming Museum, University of Texas and Hofstra University.
Corporate collections include Pfizer, Bankers Trust, I/B/E/S, Odyssey, Fidelity Investments, Cablevision and Zurich Insurance. Private collectors include Philip Glass, Night Shayamalan and Robert Rothchild. Recent publications include The Boston Globe, Art and Auction, Art of Our Town, calendar, 2006, New York Times (twice), Arts Magazine, The Banner (Provincetown), The Albuquerque Journal and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Firmin teaches several painting/printmaking workshops throughout the year at Great River Arts Institute, VT, UCCCA (Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts) , West Kortright Center, NY, North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston Salem, NC and Truro Center for the Arts, Castle Hill, Cape Cod.
 |
| Doodles - Gerda van Leeuwen |
Van Leeuwen was born in the Netherlands and lived for many years in New York City where she co-established the etching and lithography facilities of Hudson Street Press and supervised production there as Technical Advisor and participated in various exhibits of prints published by the Press. In 2005, she and her husband Peter Yamaoka, the founder of Hudson Street Press moved the press facilities to Roxbury, NY, where it publishes editions under the name of Hudsonpress.
Since moving to the Catskills, van Leeuwn’s
work has been greatly influenced by the natural environment of the area.
The pieces in the current exhibit are a process of a printing technique (rust)/
paper/ inks / acrylic to canvas. The effect is luminous, multi-layered and
mysterious.
Van Leeuwen’s work is held in several private collections, and she
has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United
States, Europe and Asia.
Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10-4 and by appointment. (607) 326-7908.