Kingston Gallery Explores Creation of New Worlds with Latest Exhibit

The Gallery at Verde will launch a new exhibit this weekend featuring collages used as a means of creating new worlds.  Artists Anne Elliott and Madelaine Shellaby use techniques of collage to allow for the examination of time, space and being, according to gallery spokeswoman Nicole Robinson. 

"What appeals to me about their work is that you can make connections with what they're showing that allows the viewer to juxtapose it with things they relate to," Robinson said.  "You see a floating figure in the sky that brings the thought of constellations, and people can see this work and make associations for themselves in a personal way."

Shellaby’s digitally generated collages incorporate paintings, fragments of photographs, drawings and scans to invent something new, Robinson said. In her series “Myth,” elements of flying, floating and falling are juxtaposed with growing roots, structures and foundations. 

She said Elliott’s work uses relationships to play an important role in each piece, yet through collage puts obstructions, placed in the form of objects or environment, to challenge the viewer to do some work to come nearer to the subject. 

"Figuring out what is real and what isn't is a very broad theme, but one that follows along with the other shows they've done," Robinson said.

Shellaby has received numerous grants and has been an artist in residence at the Headlands Center for Art and at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.  Elliott has had solo shows at the Graham Gallery in New York, The Westmoreland Museum and Johnstown Museums in Pennsylvania, The Hewlett Gallery of Carnegie-Mellon and the Center for the Arts at SUNY Purchase, among others. 

The Gallery at Verde opened its doors at the beginning of November, 2010 as a showcase for artists, photographers and sculptors to display their work to the community.  The gallery offers patrons a wide variety of new and interesting artists working in different artistic forms, with hopes of transforming Kingston into a hub for the arts.

"The reception to the gallery has been excellent so far and this is extremely unique to the area," Robinson said.  "There isn't anything like this that displays all media and it's been really great to watch this artistic community grow."

The show Opens on May 7 with a reception for the artists on May 13 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  The exhibition runs through June 8.

Gallery at Verde is located at 4492 Route 27 in Kingston, next to Eno Terra Restaurant and alongside the D&R Canal. Gallery at Verde is open on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.  For more information call 609-454-3182.