**News Release Submitted by Wilton Library**
Dec. 1, 2023
Wilton Library is pleased to present the diverse works of thirteen area artists in its December art exhibition “To Each Their Own, the Singular Visions of Ridgefield Guild Artists,” opening on Friday, December 8 with a reception from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The Ridgefield Guild of Artists is a regional and community-based art organization that promotes the visual arts and arts education by providing high quality gallery space for exhibition, art classes for children and adults, opportunities for artist-in residency programs, and art lectures and community events on-site and in collaboration with other cultural organizations. Located in an over 100 year old barn on Halpin Lane in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the Guild contains three large gallery spaces, a gift gallery and studio loft. The artists from the group will be exhibiting their works in an array of styles, media choices, and subject matter. The artists are: Sharon Cavagnolo (Chappaqua, NY), Tina Cobelle-Sturges (Ridgefield), Sarah Finucane (Ridgefield), Heide Follin (Norwalk), Cecilia Moy Fradet (Norwalk), Diana Gubbay (Bethel), Nash Hyon (Wilton), Nancy Lasar (Washington), Cynthia Mullins (Ridgefield), Erin Nazzaro (Redding), Chris Perry (Ridgefield), Pamela Stoddart (Ridgefield), and Nancy C. Woodward (Westport). The opening reception is free and open to the public.
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“We would like to extend a warm welcome to the Ridgefield Guild of Artists, a talented group of local artists that is new to Wilton Library, although some of the Guild members have exhibited at the library before,” said Ed MacEwen, Art Chairman of Wilton Library. “We hope everyone will appreciate the diversity of color, style, and subject matter that will fill the library’s gallery and walls for the holiday season.” The artists of Ridgefield Guild of Artists come from a range of backgrounds:
As a visual artist, Sharon Cavagnolo paints a kind of magical consciousness that celebrates thought along with vision, a kind of conceptual abstraction. Disparate elements speak of our times while existing in their own other world. She uses a great deal of free association in these paintings. Having collected random bits of ephemera which she keeps in a myriad of binders, they serve as the building blocks for the spaces she inhabits here, putting together what eventually sorts itself out in creating a new private place. The process can be messy and drawn out. It will seem as if disaster has struck until the images come together and a balance is achieved, creating a picture of an alternate and often very strange other-world. .
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Tina Cobelle-Sturges is a diverse and multifaceted artist equally comfortable with figurative and abstract modes of expression. One could single out three major genres in her work, each with a very distinct style: pure abstraction, abstract or semi-abstract landscapes, and New York City views. The artist is in perfect command of them all. Joyous use of color and space, unique narrative, purity, complex painterly techniques – these are a few aspects that characterize Tina’s work and show her own true self. Sturges grew up in Ridgefield, Connecticut with her father, internationally known and prolific artist Charles Cobelle. Besides her father, she has studied under accomplished painters Daniel Greene and Natasha Karpinskaia. In 2023 she was awarded by the Ridgefield Arts Council for her extensive contributions to local arts initiatives. She received the ‘Arts’ Award in 2022 from ROTA for her artistic contributions to the community. Painting in oil and watercolor, Sturges has completed numerous murals and other commissioned works for private collectors. In recent years Tina has been working in abstract modes. Tina’s latest works bring out hope and longing for a better world and better future with happiness all around. Tina Sturges uses her negative space in a very sensitive and skillful way, it is as if air currents come in with music and movement. She allows the viewer to enjoy complexity due to the intertwining of open space and the core of the composition, therefore her paintings have strong atmospheric qualities. Tina has had many solo shows at the historic Keeler Tavern Museum in Ridgefield, CT and was featured in a one woman show at the Cultural Alliance of Western CT and a guetinast artist at the RPAC Gallery in Ridgefield. She also created the impressive Vietnam War Memorial mural for the Town of Ridgefield, currently displayed in Town Hall. She is on the Board of Directors of the Ridgefield Guild of Artists, and shows her work at the The Gallery at Four India Street Nantucket, MA. While she is well known in Connecticut, Tina’s work is consistently sold and are in private and public collections worldwide.
As a rebellious high schooler with a reputation for cutting classes, Sarah Finucane spent her days in the dark room or at the local arts guild, indulging in the art classes she was actually interested in rather than suffering through algebra. Despite her love for skipping school, she still managed to earn a spot on the honor roll her senior year. After graduating from Savannah College of Art & Design, she headed west to the sunny (and slightly sketchy) beaches of Venice, California, where she spent the next two decades working as a Creative Director and Product Design Strategist by day and painting by night. Now, she has come full circle and returned to her roots on the east coast, setting up an art and design studio in a converted post and beam barn that was once a General Store in the 1740s. With the help of her three studio assistants, her dog Potter, and her two cats Cleo and Sparky, she is able to bring her creative vision to life.
Heide Follin is a contemporary abstract painter of natural environment. A graduate of the School of the Worcester Art Museum, Heide exhibits regionally in solo, two-person and curated group shows. A resident of Norwalk, Connecticut, she maintains an active studio practice at Wilson Avenue Loft Artists in South Norwalk.
Cecilia Moy Fradet is constantly creating and curating ideas for her projects to come. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Lower Manhattan, Cecilia was fascinated by the differences in what people perceived as interesting, beautiful and even what’s good or worthy. Art has always been in Cecilia’s life. She was drawn to art at an early age, as her grandfather was a painter of Chinese landscapes and her father was a calligrapher. She graduated with a fine arts degree then had a second career as a fashion designer. Cecilia is currently a mixed media artist and has a studio at Firing Circuits in Norwalk, Connecticut. She is a member of the Silvermine Guild Arts Center, a member of the Artist Collective of Westport, and an educator at Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.
Diana Gubbay moved from Canada to New York City in the late 1970’s at a time when the city’s streets, lofts and galleries were burgeoning with experimentation and innovation. A Bauhaus training in ceramics and BFA and MFA degrees in studio Fine Arts laid a foundation of skill and knowledge, and from her loft in Dumbo she created installations, drawings and sculptures that were widely exhibited. A long hiatus ensued. She moved to Connecticut, where she was fulfilled in raising two children while establishing a practice in holistic family health. Reestablishing artistic pursuit in the last several years, she found a changed art world. She learned entirely new techniques that include digital media. In combining traditional brushwork, photography and digital painting, she is finding a rich engagement with the creative process. New works from this series have been added to private collections and shown in juried exhibitions in California, Arizona, Michigan, Massachusetts and her home state, Connecticut.
Nash Hyon, a contemporary American artist, studied painting in Italy and received her MFA from Vermont College in 1998. Hyon’s work has been shown in museum exhibitions including: Montclair Museum of Art, NJ; William Benton Museum of Art, CT; Knoxville Museum of Art, TN and the National Academy of Sciences, Washington D.C. Also in many private and corporate collections her series based on the human genome was acquired by the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Research in Farmington, CT. She maintains a studio in Connecticut. Hyon’s paintings speak to the intersections of art and science, the abstract, and the figurative. The concept of transformation is critical to her work and is expressed through her choice of materials, process and chance. Encaustic (hot wax) paint is her primary medium. It is one of the most transformative as fire (heat) is used throughout the painting process. The seen and unseen aspects of the natural world inspire many of Hyon’s paintings. Concerned about our changing climate and the threat to ocean life, her latest work is conceptually relevant, thought provoking and visually arresting.
Nancy Lasar is a native of New England. Her work has been exhibited widely including group shows in New York, Japan, China and Sweden. Lasar is represented by A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, as an Alumni Artist, Amy Simon Fine Art, Westport, VanDeb Editions, NY, and the Silvermine Guild Gallery in New Canaan. She has received two Individual Artist Fellowships from the State of Ct. Commission on the Arts as well as a grant to Study at The Vermont Studio Center. Lasar has had Solo Exhibitions at such places as A.I.R.. Gallery, Brooklyn, The Mattatuck Museum, Amy Simon Fine Art, The Silvermine Gallery and The Five Points Gallery in Torrington as well as numerous group exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout the North East and New York. Her work is in numerous collections including The Mattatuck Museum, The Center for Contemporary Print Making, Aetna Life and Casualty, and General Mills.
Cynthia Mullins has exhibited her work in many solo, juried and group shows in such Connecticut venues as The New Britain Museum of American Art, Silvermine Gallery, Nylen Gallery, The Carriage Barn Arts Center, The Lockwood-Mathews Museum, and the Rockwell Gallery. In New York she shows at Oak and Oil Gallery. In New York City, Ms. Mullins has shown at The National Association of Women Artist Gallery, the Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Gallery and Prince Street Galleries. Ms. Mullins is regionally known for her Merritt Parkway Series. Her paintings have sold and found homes in many U.S. states and she has won numerous awards for her oils and pastels. Ms. Mullins’ roots run deep, as she is the great, great granddaughter and great, great grandniece of renowned Hudson Valley River School painters Aaron Draper Shattuck and Samuel Colman. She sits on the board of the Ridgefield Guild of Artists as Creative Director, is an artist member of the Silvermine Guild, New Canaan, a juried member of the National Association of Women Artists, NYC, as well as a member of the Carriage Barn Arts Center, Westport Arts Center Collective and various other organizations.
For Erin Nazzaro, expression through art has been her calling from a very early age. In her early career she concentrated on finely detailed pencil work. Focusing on such detail taught her to analyze and compose. As she progressed from pencil to paint her work evolved. Her paintings are based on realism but many have a very abstract quality, full of emotion and energy. Since those years she has been very fortunate to travel frequently to Mexico and South America, places that continue to be a huge source of inspiration for her paintings. Her first solo exhibit was in 1989. Since then she has exhibited widely in many solo and group shows.
Following a degreed study in painting, Chris Perry moved to New York where he worked in the art world, first at the Guggenheim Museum, and later for a selection of artists. His own work progressed slowly while he pursued a career in architectural woodworking until 2007 when he returned to making art full time. After residing in Lower Manhattan for almost 40 years, Chris and his wife moved to Ridgefield, CT in 2015 where they both have studios in their home.
Pamela Stoddart is an abstract artist who paints in bright, bold colors. Often painting large flowers, Pam’s inspirations come from her many adventures traveling, taking photos of flowers or other interesting items, abstracting them through the painting process and adding bright colors. Pam studied Computer Science and English Literature at the University of Colorado at Boulder, but always took art classes as electives in her curriculum. She continues to take art classes today in multiple mediums to learn new methods of creating. Pam resides in Ridgefield, CT and surrounds herself with other creative artists through her work at the Ridgefield Guild of Artists.
Nancy C. Woodward is an award-winning photographic and mixed media artist. She is resident of Westport, and has a studio, along with twenty-five other working artists, at Firing Circuits Studios in Norwalk, Connecticut. Nancy was an Artist in Residence at Silver Lake Conference Center in Sharon, Connecticut from 2006 to 2015. Her most recent project was a twenty four piece installation acquired by Montefiore Hospital in Elmsford NY in 2022. Ms. Woodward is a member of the Ridgefield Guild of Artists, The Rowayton Arts Center, and the New Canaan Society of the Arts. She studied photography, encaustic painting, and digital editing at The Silvermine School of Art in New Canaan, Connecticut and also privately with photographer Sandi Haber Fifield and encaustic artist and painter Nash Hyon. She is represented by Elisa Contemporary Art in Fairfield Connecticut and Riverdale New York.
The exhibition runs through Saturday, December 30. A majority of the works are available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the library. Wilton Library hours are Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. The library will be closed on Sunday, December 24 for Christmas Eve and Monday, December 25 for the Christmas holiday.
For more than 128 years, Wilton Library has served as the cultural and intellectual center of Wilton with the mission to inform, enrich, connect, and inspire our community. The library is located at 137 Old Ridgefield Road in the heart of Wilton Center. For more information, visit www.wiltonlibrary.org or call (203) 762-3950.
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