Varied styles and points of view are the basis of Wilton Library’s art exhibition, “Connecticut Styles & Perspectives: SCAN Artists,” opening Friday, June 7, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The eight artists featured in the show are from the Society of Creative Arts of Newtown (SCAN). The artists are Harry Burman, Brewster, NY; Barbara Courtian, New York, NY; Pamela Danneman, Newtown; Bambi Engelman, Southbury; Sandra Karakoosh, Cheshire; Ruth Newquist, Newtown; Roberta Shea, Newtown; and Lisa Willvonseder-Greto, Newtown. The reception is free and open to the public.
Each artist comes to their passion from different routes.
Harry Burman was a scholarship student at the Art Students League in New York. He studied drawing with the great draftsman and illustrator Gustav Rehberger. After illustrating for more than 20 years, he was able to pursue his love of painting portraits.
After receiving a BFA degree from Ohio State University, Barbara Courtian also studied at The Art Students League as well as Hunter College. She worked as an art director until she turned to painting full time.
Pamela J. Danneman, Ph.D., trained in art at Miami University (Ohio) before switching to science and a career in health care research and development. Once retired, she returned to art, studying watercolor and later painting in oils. Creating paintings continues to be both an emotional and intellectual passion for Danneman, a fulfilling “second life” for a trained scientist.
Bambi Engelman has always loved art and enjoys her weekly art class as a way to “relax” from 33 years of teaching. Upon retiring, she decided to take lessons in any area that interested her. Most of the time her classes have been in watercolor but she also has enjoyed oil, pastel, alcohol inks, drawing, and botanicals.
Sandra Karakoosh works in oils, pastels, acrylics and collage. Beginning with a concentration on realistic, representational subjects, such as birds and landscapes, her colorful oils and pastels render their subjects with an energetic interpretation. Her never-ending quest for tantalizing subjects ignited her interest in abstraction and collage.
Ruth Newquist is known for her oils and watercolors of New York cityscapes as well as New England landscapes. She exhibits her paintings throughout New England and New York and has won numerous awards from prestigious organizations including the Salmagundi Club, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club and North East Watercolor Society.
Roberta Shea earned a degree in art education, has taken graduate printmaking courses and has participated in other art studies. She was an art teacher at Masuk High School in her early career, and for the past 12 years, has been the docent at New Britain Museum of American Art giving Masterpiece tours for students and adults from the museum’s American collection of Colonial, Hudson River School, Impressionism, Post-Modern, and Contemporary Galleries.
Lisa Willvonseder-Greto attended Syracuse University as an art history major, but when she was given the opportunity to take studio art classes her focus was forever changed. She graduated magna cum laude with a BFA from S.U.N.Y Purchase and works in several mediums but is best known for her oils.
The exhibition runs through June 28. Most of the close to 50 paintings will be available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Wilton Library.
Information: www.wiltonlibrary.org or 203-762-6334.