March 2023 Art Exhibit

Celebration of Life by Ethel Zai

Artist’s Statement

February 2023 Exhibit

Time and Transformation:

Artwork by Irvington High School Students

Curated by Olivia Yin and Nawel Acosta

Statement Written by Olivia Yin

Artist’s Statement

“Time and transformation do not run on a linear path. They intertwine and warp at their own pace. Throughout the past four years, we as individuals, the Irvington community, and even the globe have experienced drastic catalysts for transformation: wading through a global pandemic of a scale unseen in all history, political tensions of great importance surrounding our rights as human beings, the uncovering truths about our own towns’ history, and all while we face our own internal challenges. These changes can happen over long periods like digging into centuries of history– or they can happen in the blink of an eye like the appearance of COVID. Both time and transformation can seldom be controlled. However, as shown in this collection of thoughts, ideas, emotions, and expressions here in this gallery, we can document, analyze, and notice these turning points. From delving into ideologies in the past with critique, to taking a snapshot of individual and global moments of change. These pieces show how seizing one’s essence and capturing one’s thoughts and creativity can help take control of one’s time and transformation.”

By Olivia Liu

By Sabrina DePesa

By Sienna Berger

By Samantha Quinio

By Carleigh Taylor

By Jordyn Eckers

By Sheri Chen

By Elliott Riseman

By Lucy O'Connor

By Lucy O'Connor

By Aerim Lee

By Olivia Yin

HandFlames by Alea Gray

Social Values Project by Emmaline LeBuhn

By Nawel Acosta

By Nawel Acosta

By Yiran Huo

By Hannah Reich

By Sarah Hymowitz

Self Reflection by Colby Trafton

By Olivia Yin

By Nico Donoian

January 2023 Exhibit

Oil Paintings by Alan M. Jacobson, M.D.

Artist’s Statement

For the past thirty-five years my artistic interest has been drawn to representations of imagined people, landscapes, and abstractions rendered with wood and paint. I create to release images that my mind collects in the course of my daily life and to encourage reactions in the viewer. This work reflects my introspective nature and my other roles of psychotherapist and neuro-scientist. As a scientist, I use advanced imaging techniques to study the effects of metabolism on the functioning and structure of the brain. My studies of Religion and my exposure to Eastern Religions through my travels to Japan, India and China add an important dimension to my art. I have been especially influenced by Japanese and Chinese scroll paintings and the sculpted figures of Magdalena Abakanowicz.

My figurative paintings depict isolated individuals and those trying to make contact and/or comfort one another. I may paint only part of the human figure. Typically I will focus on eyes and hands as the parts of our bodies that, to me, most capture our emotions. Fingers and hair can double as landscape elements. Initially my focus was on the inner edge of the eye where it meets the brow and the nose, as this small area of the face carries with it intense emotional meaning. Over time I expanded my vision to encompass a broader vista of the face and hands as further ways to depict the emotional valence of the individual. My people might be shaped and placed in awkward or unusual positions to highlight emotions. I have added landscape elements, dialed back the size of the figures to make silhouettes against the sky and earth and turned to repeated loose washes to emphasize the depth and character of the colors to drive the viewer into the two dimensional space. As the work evolved these silhouettes have discarded any landscape structure and become abstract compositions to explore shape, color, and texture. In many of my paintings I am trying to draw the viewer to touch and feel the work as well as to see it.

In my landscape paintings I have stripped out the figures entirely to access the universe beyond and convey a dialog between its strange beauty, our freedom to explore it without boundary and the constraints of world we inhabit. Those constraints may be imposed by others but equally important, by our own preoccupations and beliefs.

I paint with oil and work mainly on plywood panels, wood planks, hollow core doors and MDF board. Sometimes I develop ideas for paintings at the lumberyard where I pick the wood for its grain and what it draws out of me. I may apply paint thickly and quickly, pushing myself to get the paint out in torrent. I might also drip, pour or spit and apply pieces of encrusted paint. The textures developed through these techniques are important components of the work. Each step is only partly planned so I rarely prepare sketches to plan out the work. Rather I take every possible step to force spontaneity till later stages of refinement. I choose colors to enhance the intensity in each situation. I can return to the work many times over long periods to build on each “draft” until the work feels complete or in a burst complete the work in a single session.

I paint with oil and work mainly on plywood panels, wood planks, hollow core doors and MDF board. Sometimes I develop ideas for paintings at the lumberyard where I pick the wood for its grain and what it draws out of me. I may apply paint thickly and quickly, pushing myself to get the paint out in torrent. I might also drip, pour or spit and apply pieces of encrusted paint. The textures developed through these techniques are important components of the work. Each step is only partly planned so I rarely prepare sketches to plan out the work. Rather I take every possible step to force spontaneity till later stages of refinement. I choose colors to enhance the intensity in each situation. I can return to the work many times over long periods to build on each “draft” until the work feels complete or in a burst complete the work in a single session.

Circle Encased

Abstraction in Purple #1

Abstraction in Grey #1

Balloon Sky

Silhouette in Pink

Silhouette in Pink and Green

Lighting Sky

Sky Mountain

Sunrise/Sunset

Yellow Sky

Staring

On the River

Dancing

The Immigrant

Veiled Man

Ava Set in Yellow

Ava in Neon

Eye in Green

December 2022 Exhibit

Window Hopping: Hudson Valley Storefronts

An encore exhibit by Joe Williams

Artist’s Statement

“Window Hopping: Hudson Valley Storefronts” is one of my ongoing projects dealing with the artistic challenges presented by the visual clutter that surrounds us every day. Storefronts have fascinated countless photographers, from Atget’s precisely composed images of Old Paris to the imperfect cellphone images taken by today’s tourists.

Storefronts first emerged as a way to attract and delight consumers and window shoppers in big cities like New York and Boston. With the growth of car-dependent rural and suburban areas like the Hudson Valley, they became prominent features among the pedestrian-friendly central business districts, malls, and strip stores of those areas as well. Storefronts exist primarily for commercial reasons, of course. Yet to the observant eye the interplay of store windows and displays with light, color, reflections, weather, and other objects—even the occasional animal—often yields an even richer visual experience.

Both “Window Hopping” and last month’s “Sign Language” are projects that marked my return to serious landscape and street photography after a long hiatus, focusing on the power of color as I took numerous car trips exploring signs and storefronts, monuments and sculptures, buildings and roads in Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, and other Mid-Hudson counties.

For a look at my other projects, please visit
my new website, www.joewilliamsphotographer.com. I was an Irvington resident from 1993 to 2008.

Restaurant, Brewster

Restaurant, Beacon

Bakery, Hastings-on-Hudson

Restaurant, Pleasantville

Ice Cream Store, Pawling

Laundromat, Mount Vernon

Cleaners, New City

Retail Store, Millbrook

Cafe, Irvington-on-Hudson

Restaurant, Elmsford

Herb Store, Yonkers

Antiques Store, Mamaroneck

Bird Print, Ossining

General Store, Hastings-on-Hudson

Closed Bank, Beacon

November 2022 Exhibit

Sign Language by Joe Williams

Artist’s Statement

I am a landscape and street photographer who focuses on the visual impact of commerce, creativity, automobiles, and various human activities on the built environment, seeking to create images where color not only provides descriptive power but often functions as the subject itself. “Sign Language” is just one of my ongoing projects dealing with the artistic challenges presented by the visual clutter that surrounds us every day. These projects, which marked my return to serious photography after a long hiatus, all coincided with the emergence of the Covid pandemic, leading to my emphasis on car trips exploring the lower Hudson Valley.

Signs, of course, primarily serve a utilitarian function—building brands and businesses, identifying places, conveyinginformation, enforcing rules, promoting ideas. At the same time, their omnipresence in the American landscape has made them attractive to creative artists as well, including Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander, and many other noted photographers. Inspired by those artists, I have taken numerous day trips over the last few years, exploring signs and storefronts, monuments and sculptures, buildings and roads in Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, and other Mid-Hudson counties. With the pandemic now waning, I am expanding existing projects and pursuing new ones in more people-intensive venues, such as county fairs, amusement parks, zoos, aquariums, and the streets of Manhattan.

For a look at the larger Sign Languages portfolio and other projects, please visit
my new website, www.joewilliamsphotographer.com. I was an Irvington resident from 1993 to 2008.

Faceless Exit Sign, Kingston

Street Crossing, Saugerties

Truck Decal, New Windsor

Billboard, Beacon

Vendor Umbrella, Manhattan

Diner Entrance, Yonkers

Pink Shoes, Yonkers

Partial Poster, Kingston

Yard Sale, Beacon

Restaurant Entrance, Yonkers

Diner, Ancram

Wall, Beacon

Rest Area, Interstate 84

Street Sign, Sleepy Hollow

August 2022 Art Exhibit

Watercolor Paintings by Michael Mendel

July 2022 Art Exhibit

In the Martucci Gallery at the Irvington Library

Artist Reception: Saturday July 9th from 2-4pm.

“Botanical Figurations”

View the virtual exhibit below, then visit the full gallery in-person at the Irvington Public Library!

Be sure to check our event calendar or call first to ensure that the gallery is open at the time of your visit.

New Beginnings

watercolor on canvas, 24X16″

Look Me in the Eyes

watercolor on canvas, 24X24″

Just Breath

watercolor on canvas, 24X24″

Heart Power

watercolor on canvas, 24X24″

Interpersonal

watercolor and acrylic on canvas, 20X24″

Surrender

watercolor on canvas, 24X24”

Alicia

watercolor/acrylic on canvas, 40X30”

I’m Rising

watercolor/acrylic on canvas, 40X30”

Gaslight

watercolor/acrylic on canvas, 30X40“

Lina

watercolor/acrylic on canvas, 40X30″

I, You, We Are One

watercolor on canvas, 24X20”

Groundlessness

watercolor on canvas, 24X24”

Patty

watercolor/acrylic on canvas, 30X40″

Infinity

watercolor/acrylic on canvas, 24X24”

More information can be found at moniquecreate.com

June 2022 Art Exhibit

In the Martucci Gallery at the Irvington Library

Arnold Arbeit Abstracts

This exhibit showcases of a variety of styles and sizes of oil on canvas abstract artwork painted by Arnold A. Arbeit from the 1950s through the 1970s. More information at arnoldarbeit.com

View a preview of the exhibit below, then visit the full gallery in person at the Irvington Public Library!

Be sure to check our event calendar or call to ensure the gallery is open at the time of your visit.

More information can be found at https://www.arnoldarbeit.com/

Invented Paintings; Real Life Scenarios

View a preview of the exhibit below, then visit the full gallery in person at the Irvington Public Library!

After Biking

Girls in Summer

Girls in a Snowy Landscape

Pound Ridge

Sail Shop, Hudson

Creatively Composed

Photography by Pam Grafstein

on view in the Martucci Gallery January 3, 2022-January 30, 2022

Examining small details has always defined my character.  Early on, I learned to appreciate the value of patient observation, and discovered that fascinating scenes can be found in what at first glance appears ordinary.  My work demonstrates an emphasis on the simplicity of shape and pattern accomplished by thoughtful composition.  It exemplifies the sentiment that one does not have to travel far for wonderful photographic opportunity, as many of my favorite images were created at my home, or not very far away.

Please contact me at pamgrafstein@gmail.com to arrange a purchase, or just to let me know how my art speaks to you.
Visit my website at www.pamgrafsteinphotography.com to see more of my work!

December 2021 Art Exhibit

Structures

Exhibit by Jim Maciel

Framed Watercolors, 24″ by 30″

For more information on these pieces, please contact Jim Maciel at ide9999@optonline.net or call 914 476 5581. JMacielart.com

November 2021 Art Exhibit

Nellie Misch

“Illuminate: People in Stained Glass”

“Josephine Baker”

“Carnival”

“Besties”

“Beauty and the Beast”

August 2021 Art Exhibit

Recovery

Works by Kurt Capalbo

Daily explorations through urban and natural environments provide the menagerie of raw materials, otherwise treated as waste, as inspiration for his fragmented visual motifs. He refers to his work as socially responsible and innately durable by striving to bring beauty from byproducts. Akin to the randomness of particles colliding, he meshes an artistic stew of organic evolution, enabling his work to take on a life of its own.

The human race will be gone well before his art has reached its denouement. This organized decomposition is the true chronicle of Kurt’s experiences through art.

Located in the Martucci Gallery of the Irvington Library (12 South Astor St, Irvington, NY)

View a Virtual Exhibit version below.

July 2021 Virtual Art Exhibit

Painting and Poetics

by Meg Lindsay

Note: All Works Are Subject to Copyright.

MEG LINDSAY
website: www.meglindsayartist.com
email: mlindsay.paint@gmail.com

WRITING BIO
2 books: Notes from a Caregiver, published by Poetry Box 2020 and A Painter’s Night
Journal, published by Finishing Line Press 2016.
A semi-finalist in two “Discovery”/The Nation Contests and a finalist in an Inkwell
competition, Meg Lindsay has had poems published in Tricycle, Pivot, Salamander,
Alimentum, Connecticut River Review, Intima, Tiferet, etc. and earned an
MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College

PAINTING BIO
HIGHLIGHTS
Juried shows at the Hudson River Museum & Silvermine Arts Center
6 solo shows
40 shows in 11 states

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020 Martucci Gallery, Irvington, N.Y.
2013 Gregory James Gallery, New Milford, CT
2012 Martucci Gallery, Irvington, N.Y.
2008 Gallery at Woodloch, Hawley, PA
2007 Sarah Lawrence College Gallery, Bronxville, N.Y.
1973 Mamaroneck Artist Guild, Inc., Mamaroneck, N.Y.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019 invitational/Greenwich/Westchester International Art Fair, Purchase, N.Y.
2018 Upstream Gallery, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
2016 Gallery at Rockefeller State Park Preserve, Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.
2015 Gregory James Gallery, New Milford, CT
2011 Sweet Grass, Tarrytown, N.Y.
2010 Kiesendahl + Calhoun, Pleasantville, N.Y.
2007 Gallery Yellow, Cross River, N.Y.
2002 Attleboro Museum, Attleboro, Mass.
2000 ART OF THE HUDSON, Westchester Arts Council, White Plains, N.Y.
ART OF THE HUDSON RIVER, Art on Main Street, Yonkers, N.Y.
1998 Nat. Assoc. Women Artists, New World Art Center, New York,N.Y.
Gallery Art 54, New York, N.Y.
1996 Parkersburg Art Center, Parkersburg, West Virginia
Port Washington Library, Port Washington, N.Y.
Printmaking Council of New Jersey, Somerville, N.J.
1995 Marist College Gallery, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
SHOWCASE ’95, Lever House, New York, N.Y.
University of Arkansas at Little Rock Gallery, Little Rock, Arkansas
Stevens College Gallery, Columbia, Missouri
Alexandria Museum, Alexandria, Lousiana
1994 395 West Broadway Gallery, New York, N.Y.
SURFACES, The Gallery, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.
Hudson River Gallery, Ossining, N.Y.
1993 du Pont Gallery, Washington & Lee University, Lexington, Virginia
Hillyer Gallery, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
Wilkes Art Gallery, North Wilkesboro, N.C.
1992 Olana, Hudson, N.Y.
Kraushaar Galleries, New York, N.Y.
Garrison Art Center, Garrison, N.Y.
1991 The NATURAL PERCEPTION, The Gallery, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.
The CURRENT RIVER VIEW, The Gallery, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.
1990 HUDSON RIVER CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS, Hudson River Museum,
Yonkers, N.Y.
ART of NORTHEAST USA, Silvermine Guild Arts Center, New Canaan, Ct.
1985-1986 Obsessions Gallery, Lake Placid, N.Y. & Santa Fe, N.M.
1973 Carroll-Condit Galleries, White Plains, N.Y.

TELEVISION & RADIO APPEARANCES
2007 Featured on radio WVOX — Paul Feiner’s GREENBURGH REPORT
1992 Featured on Westchester STATE OF THE ARTS

Price List

1 and 2) Paintings for 2 book covers NFS (Not for Sale)

3)”Dragonfly”     oil on canvas  20 ½ h x 24 ¾ w      $1,300

4) “Desert Outside Vegas”    acrylic & oil on canvas 24 ½ h x 36 ½ w   $1,200

5) “Desert Dawn”   acrylic on canvas  20 ¼ h x 36 ½ w  $1,100

6) “3 Trees”   oil on canvas  14 ½ h x 18 ½ w  $1,300

7) “3 Trees Fauves”   oil on canvas  11 ½ h x 14 ½ w   $1,200

8) “Patio”   oil on canvas    24h x 30w   $1,300

9) “Hudson Being Seen Thru 3 Slender Trees”    acrylic on canvas  24 ½ h x 20 ½ w  $1,300

10) “Red Sun & Jade River”   oil on canvas   16 ¾ h x 18 ½ w  $1,100

11) “Billboard”     oil on canvas   36h x 48w    $2,400

12) “Blue Beach Umbrellas”    acrylic on linen  24h x 26w    $1,800 

13)  “Blazing Sunset over Palisades”     oil on canvas   30h x 36w   $1,500

14)  “Landscape Magic”   oil on canvas    31h x 37w   $1,900  

15)  “Brightening Day”   acrylic on canvas   12h x 16w   $1,200

16)   “Ochre Castle at the Reservoir”      oil on canvas   11h x 14w  $1,100

17)  “Man Photographing Bull”      acrylic on canvas  15h x 20w   $1,200

18)  “Lap Pool at Sunset”     acrylic on canvas   16h x 20w   $1,200

19)  “Hudson River Summer Sun Setting”     oil on canvas   13h x 9 ¾ w  $1,100

20)  “After the Storm Trees and Orange and Blue Sky”   acrylic on canvas  20 ½ h x 24 ¾ w  $1,200

21)  “Autumn Field”     acrylic on canvas  11h x 14w       $1,100

22)  “Abstract with 2 White Squares”       oil on canvas  24 ½ h x 20 ½ w  $1,600

23)  “2 Dogs under a Yellow Sun”      oil on canvas   24h x 30w    $1,750

24)  “Light Between 3 Pears”      oil on canvas  16 ½ h x 26 ½  w    $1,350

Thank you for visiting! Please contact Meg at mlindsay.paint@gmail.com for inquiries regarding her work.

Please note that all artwork is subject to copyright.

Attention Artists

The library strongly encourages local artists to apply for exhibit space.

Please download a copy of our exhibition policy and an exhibit application, or call Rosemarie Gatzek, the Library’s Director, at (914) 591-7840. You may view the room floor plan here as well.

If you are interested in having a reception, you will need to contact Rosemarie Gatzek directly to schedule a date and time.

Attention non-profit groups

Our program room is available to non-profit community-based organizations for special programs. Rental fees, security deposits and proof of insurance are required. Read our Program Room Policy by clicking here. Download an application for use of the Program Room here. For more information call
Rosemarie Gatzek, the Library’s Director, at (914) 591-7840.

May and June 2021 Virtual Art Exhibit

JUST BREATHE

Oil on Canvas by Renee Shamosh

Renee Shamosh is a multi-media artist with over 35 years of art teaching experience.

An avid gardener and member of The Garden Club of Irvington and The Irvington Beautification Committee,

Renee uses elements of nature in her work. Renee and her family have lived here for over 30 years.

Artist’s Statement

My goal has been to capture the tranquil beauty that can be found in a garden and our surroundings without going far from home.

I strive to capture the essence of what we see but often take for granted as we walk, jog, or drive around the greenery.

Simply put, stop to look around, think, and take a breath.

Please contact Renee at artsnroses@aol.com for inquiries regarding her work.

Note: All Works Are Subject to Copyright.

Thank you for visiting! Please contact Renee at artsnroses@aol.com for inquiries regarding her work.

Please note that all artwork is subject to copyright.

March and April 2021 Virtual Art Exhibit

Artist’s Statement

Over the years I have worked in several media and genres—pastel still-life and landscape, hand-colored photography, expressive drawing of migraine(resulting in the publication of “The Migraine Book”), and more. One genre that I have worked on all along, “on the side”, is abstraction.

A few years ago I decided to go at abstraction headlong. It has been an exciting challenge.

My objective is to free the visual experience from a narrative, so that all that is left is the abstract. I do not give my works descriptive titles; instead, I label them by date.

The works here were all done in January, 2021. Trying to get past a dry spell I committed to creating at least one work every day. I continue on in that discipline, and it has been a good journey so far.

I welcome you to visit my website: Leacarmichael.com. You may contact me there or at my email: Paintmoth@gmail.com. I’m on Instagram at Leacarmichaelart.

Note: all works are 6 x 6” unless noted otherwise.

All works are on watercolor paper, done in gouache, watercolor, cut paper, crayon, colored pencil, pencil, ink, and acrylic.

Thank you for visiting! Please contact Paintmoth@gmail.com for more information on these works and to let her know how her art speaks to you.

Please note that all artwork is subject to copyright.