About Face

September 12 - 28, 2016
Opening Reception: Monday, September 12, 5-7pm

September 13-16, 1-4pm: Donna Cota conducts demonstrations of portrait painting.

About Face is an eclectic mix of portraiture from a range of stylistically different artists.  What they have in common are their unique skill sets and their devoted attention to faces.  

MAIN GALLERY
In the Main Gallery, six proficient, professional artists display their images. 
Donald Boudreaux lives in Hartford CT and was born in Louisiana.  A resident artist of Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, he has taught extensively in his community and has been a recipient of grants to Germany, South Africa, as well as a painter supported by  the U.S. Department of State. 
Donna Cota, who comes from a long line of painters has taught art ranging from pre-K crayon copies of Superman to college charcoal quick sketch portraits of classmates. For this exhibit, she brings her joy for pastel chalks and will hold a demonstration during the exhibition. 
Colleen Kiely, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, who in 2002 adopted a basset hound named Beau to honor the first anniversary of her sister’s death, brings her drawings of the dog, her model, to this show. 
Michael Lewis, a City Councilor in his hometown of Grants, NM is trained in magazine production, advertising, commercial and fine art, classical drawing and painting, and has been a mentor to thousands of artists.
Lorna Ritz, an Amherst-based painter who has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, national and international, including the U.S. Information Agency and  the Pollock-Krasner Grant Award, has taught painting, drawing and art history at Western New England University since 2004.
Susan Siris Wexler of Cambridge, MA has degrees in Creative Writing and Fine Arts.  She has worked at the Hebrew Center for Rehabilitation of the Aged, now Hebrew Senior Life, a long term chronic care center, and Harvard Research and Teaching Facility for 25 years.
 
GALLERY ANNEX
On exhibit in the intimate viewing space of the gallery annex, is The Memory Project, featuring the talents of younger artists.  The Memory Project invites art teachers and their students to create portraits for youth around the world who have faced substantial challenges, such as neglect, abuse, loss of parents, and extreme poverty. The high school artists presented in this show are from Grants, New Mexico, many of which hail from Acoma, Laguna and Zuni Pueblos and Navajo Nation.  The project is led by their extraordinary art teacher, Ellie MacDonald.