WHERE: Forbes Library.
WHEN: Through 30, 2012. Note: An Opening reception is on Wednesday, August 8, from 5:00-8:00 pm.
TITLE: Janine Norton: Digital Photo Collage and Elizabeth Sylvan: Art Quilts: Moment of Solitude
BRIEF ABOUT: Dual exhibition in the Hosmer Gallery, Janine Norton (www.janinenorton.com), who hails from Washington State, has been drawn to the macro photography of flora. Beginning as a photographer began in the early ’70s, she focused on black and white photographs of flora and fauna in the Northwest.
Elizabeth Sylvan (www.elizabethsylvan.com) grew up amidst the woods and rural farmlands of Pennsylvania, which lead her on to explore the wilder places depicted in her art quilts. She creates quilted landscape collages made of fabric which explore value, color and natural symbols: the sun and moon, mountains, birds, seasons and water, occasionally mixed with a touch of the whimsical.
MORE DETAILS: www.forbeslibrary.org. The Forbes Library opened in 1894, as a result of a bequest by Judge Charles E. Forbes, who wished to build a public library for the citizens of Northampton. The massive three-story stone building, which is on the Register of Historic Buildings, was designed by William Brocklesby to be completely fire proof with all steel framing and stone, slate, and copper exterior. A complete renovation of the interior was finished in 2001 accentuating many of the Forbes’ unique features such as the glass mezzanine floors, expansive spaces, and the Guastavino arches which actually support the second floor.
The Library holds a substantial collection of paintings, engravings, photographs, and other works by local, regional and nationally-known artists of the 18th to the 21st centuries. Among the art on permanent display are works by Leonard Baskin, W.H.W. Bicknell, Howard Chandler Christy, Lionel Delevingne, Ralph Earl, Bessie Bell Hawkes, Elbridge Kingsley, Samuel F.B. Morse, Barry Moser, Elliott Offner, Alan James Robinson, Stan Sherer, Dwight William Tryon, and many others.