Claudia Mengel opening at The Lionheart Gallery

The Lionheart Gallery is showcasing “Claudia Mengel: New Paintings and Works on Paper” from October 30 through December 29, with an opening on Saturday November 1 from 5 to 7 p.m. Just over the New Canaan border in Pound Ridge, the gallery focuses on top drawer contemporary art and fine art photography.

Mengel’s dynamic abstract expressionistic paintings and prints have taken a new direction in the past year and a half. She says, “While my work is still inspired by landscapes and the human figure, I’m really fascinated with the views from my new studio in the “Firing Circuits” former Dresden Lace factory building turned artists’ complex in the Silvermine area of Norwalk. I have tall windows overlooking the urban industrial park setting. I’m seeing different shapes and forms – my creativity comes from the imaginary world that these views inspire. I am simplifying the forms to more abstract images, yet the forms of nature and the landscape remain representational, showing vestiges of recognizable forms.” Mengel doesn’t just copy what she sees, she “absorbs” the environment, makes some sketches and then turns to her drawing board and expresses her emotional response from memory.

“I‘m also experimenting with new materials such as spackle and joint compound which provide me with a more textural surface, allowing me to build up shapes and forms quickly, and I’m able to carve and draw into the surface. My use of color is now bolder and clearer, focusing on the relationship of colors juxtaposed,” she adds.

Mengel is a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists and the Center for Contemporary Printmaking where she has studied with Master Printmaker Anthony Kirk, as well as Robert Reed at Yale, Constance Kiermaier and Hugh O’Donnell at Boston University. She lives in Westport, CT.

The Lionheart Gallery is at 27 Westchester Avenue in Pound Ridge, open Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 12 to 4 p.m. (914) 764-8689 orwww.thelionheartgallery.com