Since 2011, the Hunt Library ArtWall has showcased local professional and emerging artists living in the Northwest Connecticut community and throughout the Tri-state area, from Boston to New York City.
The ArtWall provides important income for both the Hunt Library and the exhibiting artists. A purchase of art is a gift to both.
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JULY 24 through SEPTEMBER 24, 2021
Our first large group exhibition in over a year, BOOK MARKS, is open. It features the outdoor installation THE YELLOW BOOK TREE and an exhibition of art celebrating our friendships with books on the indoor ArtWall.
BOOK MARKS was inspired by bookseller and exhibition organizer Garth Kobal’s acknowledgment during the pandemic that, “books have been our most steadfast companions since childhood.” The show’s title is taken from Barbara Page’s recently published art memoir BOOK MARKS: An Artist’s Card Catalog featuring 430 richly illustrated artworks on library checkout slips, one for each book she had read.
The exhibition includes work by twenty-three artists in painting, sculptural work, installation, and mobiles that demonstrate our physical intimacy with books and their ability to transport us to places real and imaginary, to comfort or challenge. Erika Crofut’s towering Story Forest fills the airy space in the children’s library, while Zoe and Sergei Fedorjaczenko’s outdoor installation, The Yellow Book Tree, makes literal the concept of books growing as fruit on trees. Amanda Thackray’s luminous Glass Books, Robert Cronin’s paintings Natural Light and Summer Tutoress, and Danielle Mailer’s book-shaped Message 2021, represent books as surreal engines of illumination and gnosis. Emily Rutgers Fuller honors literary creators with her portraits of Emily Dickinson and Charlotte Bronte. Sue Berg repurposes stuff with books and little libraries, and there are books and page layouts by Robert Andrew Parker and Michael Gellatly, two prominent American illustrators. And Voices of South Africa by Tilly Strauss, utilizes her trademark technique of repurposing a book as the foundation for an experiential sketchbook.
Other artists participating in BOOK MARKS include Lori Barker, Megan Berk, Lena Curtis, Richard Griggs, Ani Jenkins, Garth Kobal, KK Kozik, Patty Mullins, Peter Steiner, and Judith Wyer.
Signed copies of Barbara Page’s BOOK MARKS is available for purchase at the library.
WORKS ON EXHIBIT
TO RESERVE FOR PURCHASE, CLICK ON A TITLE AND
AN EMAIL FORM WILL POP UP FOR YOU TO MAKE YOUR INQUIRY
LORI BARKER – RUSTED PATHWAYS
2021, mixed media, 6 x 5.5, $85 – SOLD
LORI BARKER – SPIRITS IN NATURE
2021, collage & twigs, 9.5 x 12, $75 – SOLD
ERIC CARLE – J IS FOR JAGUAR
1980, collage, 7.5 x 11, NFS
on loan from the private collection CB and Kathy Wismar
ERIKA CROFUT – STORY FOREST – INSTALLATION AND DETAILS
2021, reclaimed materials
the 8 major elements of birds and nest are $120 ea
the full installation is valued at $800
SERGEI FEDORJACZENKO – STACK OF BOOKS
2021, watercolor, 20 x 16, $250 – SOLD
EMILY RUTGERS FULLER – PLAIN EMILY DICKINSON
2021, oil on masonite, 10 x 8, $200 – SOLD
ANI JENKINS – CHRONICLES SYLVAN
2021, wood, 37 x 8, $600 – SOLD
GARTH KOBAL – 20TH CENTURY DRIVE-BY
2012, book and buckshot, 12 x 9 x 2, $200 – SOLD
KK KOZIK – S-CURVY
2019, oil on linen, 29 x 33, $4500 – SOLD
DANIELLE MAILER – MESSAGE 2021
2019, acrylic on Diebond, 9 x 17, $750 – SOLD
KEN MUSSELMAN – HELLUO LIBRORUM
2021, acrylic, 12 x 12, $500 – SOLD
BARBARA PAGE – BOOK MARKS 1ST EDITION
2021, signed 1st ed – 224 pages, 8 x 12, $30
EXAMPLES OF INDIVIDUAL BOOK MARKS FROM 1ST EDITION:
ROBERT ANDREW PARKER – PRINTS FROM “A YIDDISH LEXICON”
2013, 36 hand-colored prints, 11.5 x 8.5 ea, $50 per print
see them all at the library
ROBERT ANDREW PARKER – A TO Z
2007, 26 hand-colored prints in silk box, 10.5 x 8, edition 6 of 20, $500
see them all at the library
ROBERT ANDREW PARKER – AMAZONS TO ZAPATA
2009, 26 hand-colored prints in silk box, 10.5 x 8, edition 18 of 26, $500
see them all at the library
SUE PAKULA – JOY OF ART
2021, acrylic, 16 x 20, $150 – SOLD
TILLY STRAUSS – CORNWALL BRIDGE
2014, archival print from the sketchbook, ‘Does God Make a Difference’, 11 x 15, $50
TILLY STRAUSS – VOICES OF SOUTH AFRICA, SKETCHBOOK
2016, mixed media – refurbished book, 9 x 6, NFS
AMANDA THACKRAY – GLASS BOOKS
2014, glass, 6 x 9 or smaller
Three pieces available: Red $1000 / Green $850 / Blue $850
