Studio 80 + Sculpture Grounds Hosting Summer Sculpture Showcase 2017 In Old Lyme

OLD LYME, CT - Gilbert Boro, owner and sculptor at Studio 80 + Sculpture Grounds in Old Lyme, announced this week the opening of Summer Sculpture Showcase 2017 on Monday, June 5. This juried exhibition follows on naturally from last year’s Summer Sculpture Showcase 2016, which drew large crowds and had to be extended into October to meet public demand.

This new exhibition on the grounds adjoining Boro’s studio and inside the Emily Seward Boro (ESB) Gallery on the property features works created by 17 widely acclaimed sculptors interspersed amongst Boro’s own sculptures, along with works by 22 other contributing artists. More than 30 sculptors from across the country responded to the Call for Entries submitting some 60 works, according to a release.

Boro’s expansive Sculpture Gardens are located on 4.5 acres of his residence on historic Lyme Street in the heart of Old Lyme. The beautifully landscaped grounds slope down toward the Lieutenant River offering a unique plein air experience for the exhibition, which combines both large- and small-scale contemporary sculptures.

Many of the works, which are in a variety of media, are for sale.

A second exhibition will be on view in the ESB Gallery located on the Studio 80 grounds during the Showcase. “The Golden Hour” will feature mixed media works by talented indoor artist Susan Hickman, who was born a twin in rural Ohio. She grew up in a small town and went on to study graphic design and photography at Ohio University.

She moved to New York for a year before making her way up to the New England area where she has spent the last 15 years. She is currently a resident artist of Hygienic Gallery in New London.

Hickman is an eclectic mixed media artist working with paper, acrylic, ink, oils, found objects, graphic design, clothing design, photography and more. She has also owned and managed several small galleries in New London including DEW ART Gallery, TAKEOUT Gallery and Down Gallery in Mystic. She utilizes studio waste, discarded paintings, and found textiles as well as new ones, thus creating a restorative process, making something new from the past.

She enjoys experimenting with texture and color and finds making art of any kind an exploration and an escape.

Summer Sculpture Showcase 2017 and The Golden Hour will be on view from Monday, June 5, through Friday, Oct. 27, and feature an Opening Reception on Friday, June 10, from 5 to 8 p.m. All are welcome to attend the reception at which light refreshments will be served. During the Opening Reception, there will be two live, outdoor performances at 6 and 7 p.m. by the GUSTO Dance & River Valley Dance Project. All are welcome to attend the reception, watch the dance performances and wander the beautiful gardens to view the works.

The sculptors and the title(s) of their work(s) included in the Showcase are as follows:

• Michael Alfano • Fox
• Greg Bailey • Green Descent
• Henneke Beaumont • Connected-Disconnected
• Brooke Bofill • Tension, Reveal
• Jerry Erlich • Third Wheel
• Denis Folz • Structured Form 1
• Gints Grinbergs • Amulet, Stainless Steel Globes
• Deborah Hornbake • Leap
• David Judelson • Pablo
• Elizabeth Knowles & William Thielen • Locating
• Carlin Morris • Untitled
• Christ Plaisted • Victorious Vine
• Marcia Raff • 3’s a Crowd
• Janet Rutkowski • Cymbalic Journey
• Lisa Simonds • Silueta
• Matthew Weber • Cedar Shingles & Shim Stacks
• Melanie Zibit • Echo

The signature piece of the exhibition is Amulet by Gints Grinbergs, who works with a variety of metals, including copper, bronze, and stainless steel, to create open forms.

Welding metal spheres and partial spheres, he creates modern structures, for indoors or out. Fascinated by pictures taken by the Hubble telescope and electron microscopes, Grinbergs makes associations with galaxies and molecular structures.

The combination of a modern metal structure with rough, natural stone make these works unique sculptural forms. Grinbergs has a BFA and a BA. in architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design and has studied at Massachusetts College of Art and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

His work has been featured at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park; Michael Beauchemin Gallery, Boston; and Lever House Gallery, New York, N.Y. and is Included in private and corporate collections throughout North America.

The jurors for the exhibition were sculptor Gilbert V. Boro, art historian Barbara Zabel and photographer Christina Goldberg.

Image courtesy Olwen Logan.