SUSAN OLEKSIW @ RNG THURSDAY NIGHT!

This Thursday, August 1st, Rocky Neck Gallery is honored to have writer Susan Oleksiw at the gallery for the second Nights on the Neck.  Susan will discuss her two recent mystery novels, and read a short passage from each.

Please join us for this free event starting at 7:30 PM at the gallery on 53 Rocky Neck Avenue, Gloucester.

Last Call for Justice is set in a small New England town, and The Wrath of Shiva is set in South India.  Susan's novels are available on her website, at The Bookstore on 61 Main Street in Gloucester, and also at Amazon.

Susan Oleksiw writes the Anita Ray series featuring Indian American photographer Anita Ray, who has appeared in two books, Under the Eye of Kali (2010) and The Wrath of Shiva (2012). She also writes the Mellingham series featuring Chief of Police Joe Silva (A Murderous Innocence), now on Kindle.

Susan compiled A Reader’s Guide to the Classic British Mystery (1988), after spending years and years reading crime fiction and taking notes.  Talking about her favorite books with friends just wasn't enough, so she offered her list of books to a publisher. 

She was consulting editor for The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing (1999), which is a wonderful reference on all sorts of topics related to crime fiction.  In addition to writing and reviewing crime fiction, Susan was a co-founder of Level Best Books, which continues to thrive under new ownership, and The Larcom Press, which published The Larcom Review and a number of mysteries before its founders decided to move on to other challenges.

Susan is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Authors Guild, National Writers Union, and Short Mystery Fiction Society.

Special thanks to Susan Oleksiw!

KUDOS TO SKIP MONTELLO

Downside Up - Bradley Wharf 

Skip Montello's photograph Downside Up - Bradley Wharf was awarded first place in the 2013 PHIG Photography Show at the Newburyport Art Association.  This prestigious exhibit was juried by renowned photographer and author Eva Koleva Timothy.  PHIG stands for Newburyport Art Association's Photographers Interest Group.  This 2013 show is on view until August 4th.  Newburyport Art Association is located on 65 Water Street in Newburyport, MA.   For more information visit their website http://newburyportart.org/ or call 978-465-8769.

Congratulations to Skip Montello!

BEAUX ARTS BALL

Photo & poster design by Kathy Chapman
Katherine Ward, model & distressed dress designer

The Gloucester arts scene is experiencing a renaissance. New creative partnerships are forming, and new ways of considering visual art, music, theatre, and literature are challenging contemporary forms and breaking down traditional borders. The Rocky Neck Art Colony is at the forefront of this revival, collaborating with its cultural sisters and supported by the city and the state. Rocky Neck Art Colony’s Beaux Arts Ball celebrates this spirit of the “new” on Saturday, August 3, from 6-10 PM at the Cultural Center at Rocky Neck. 

The theme this year is Recycled, Repurposed, Revived!  So creative dress is strongly encouraged - think about vintage clothes, stressed threads, plastic bags, bubble wrap, beach debris, old sails and on - you get the idea.  

And don't forget your dancing shoes as Le Prestige, the Boston-based instrumental quintet, is performing.  Food and beer/wine by donation and a silent auction adds to the fun. 

This annual fundraiser benefits Rocky Neck Art Colony programming and operations including: exhibitions and workshops; lectures and community offerings at the Cultural Center at Rocky Neck; Goetemann Artist in Residency; Nights on the Neck; Rocky Neck Gallery; Teaching Artist Partnership with the Gloucester public schools; Historic Art Trail; and the Ward Mann Scholarship.

This festive event happens on next Saturday, Aug. 3, 6-10 PM at the Cultural Center at Rocky Neck, 6 Wonson St., Gloucester.  But come early for the costume parade starting at the park @ 5:30 PM.  

Tickets are $35 at the door or available online. And tickets are also available at Rocky Neck Gallery, 53 Rocky Neck Ave., The Cultural Center, 6 Wonson St., and Aquatro Gallery on Madfish Wharf.  See you there recycled & ready for fun! 

PAM STRATTON OFFERS MOSAIC WORKSHOP

WINDBLOWN
12.5 x 10.5
Mosaic

Pam Stratton is offering a convenient one-day mosaic workshop at her beautiful studio at 16 A Prospect Street, Rockport, MA, on Saturday, August 24th.  This workshop, from 9 AM – 5 PM, provides student with all the necessary tools, materials and instructions (in a take home packet) to complete a project along with an added bonus –a delicious lunch!  The cost for this artfilled, fun day is $175.00.  Please go to Pam’s website for typical formats presented in her classes: http://PamStrattonMosaics.com

For more information please contact Pam at PamStratton@verizon.net or at 508 284-0086

MARSH AS METAPHOR: BRENDA CIRIONI

Marsh: Pool
mixed media on panel
24 x 24
$1600

Rocky Neck Gallery’s Summer Artists Series: Marsh as Metaphor –

New paintings by Brenda Cirioni.

Wednesday, July 24 – Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Rocky Neck Gallery is pleased to announce the fourth show of the Summer Artist Series featuring artist Brenda Cirioni and her exhibit Marsh as Metaphor.  This dramatic new show opens Wednesday, July 24 and runs for three weeks until August 13.  Meet Brenda Cirioni and learn about her intriguing creative process at an artist’s reception on Saturday, July 27 from 5-7 PM. 

Cirioni’s paintings, consisting of mixed media on panel, are energetic, thought provoking and beautiful depictions of nature.  This new series is inspired by her family home burning to the ground when she was sixteen.  While touching upon utter destruction, her paintings are celebratory, bursting with color and regeneration.

In this series she explores the tension between nature and the elements.  Her work is about the power of transformation within nature and within us.  Cirioni paints the background composition, then draws, splatters and drips with acrylic ink and paint creating a surface rich with texture, color and movement.  She enlarges on the composition with torn paper scraps, feathers, fiber and other debris.  Her method of layering and juxtaposing disparate materials draws attention to the multiplicities and mysteries of nature and life.

Cirioni says, “The fire and consequent loss of everything inside my home provided a yearning to attach myself to things that last: earth, water, air, in other words, to nature, as well as to art and community.

Cirioni is a graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.  She has exhibited in many of Massachusetts’ fine art museums: The Attleboro Arts Museum, the Danforth Museum of Framingham, the deCordova Museum in Lincoln, The Fitchburg Museum and the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield.  Her painting, Dickinson’s Hope, hangs in the office of Governor Deval Patrick.  Cirioni’s work is in many prestigious corporate art collections such as Boston’s Brigham and Women's Hospital, Fidelity Investments and Carroon and Black Insurance Co., as well as other institutions and private collections across the country, including the Wrigley family collection.  She is a member of Fountain Street Fine Art Gallery in Framingham and has a studio at Artspace in Maynard.

Please join us and meet Brenda Cirioni on Saturday, July 27^th from 5-7 PM for a reception.  Hear her talk about her work and process around 6 PM.  Delicious refreshments will be served.  Rocky Neck Gallery is located on 53 Rocky Neck Avenue, Gloucester.  The hours are: Sunday – Wednesday: 11 AM – 6 PM, Thursday – Saturday: 11 AM – 8 PM.  Free parking is available.