Annual craft exhibit set to open at CAS

	Contributed photo “Blue Iris,” a painting by Jane Blake, will accompany works by Sullivan County artists at the Sullivan County Museum. (Click for larger image)

HURLEYVILLE, NY — A free opening reception for the Catskill Art Society’s Annual Craft Invitational Exhibit will be held on October 4 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Sullivan County Museum, 265 Main Street. This year’s exhibit will present work by local artists Jane Blake, Anne and Edward Nocera, Hank Schneider, Madeline Louise Stillwell and Sally Utley. The show will remain open through October 26.

Born in England, Blake studied art in her homeland and in Paris. She then worked with fabrics in Israel before coming to America 31 years ago.

“I draw my inspiration from my extensive flower garden and surroundings and from the luminosity of the silk I am painting on. My love of color is satisfied by the intense color saturation produced by the dyes on silk,” Blake said.

The Noceras are a husband and wife team formally trained in ceramic arts. They also specialize in sculpture, painting, pottery and art tile. The Nocera Studio is available in art galleries and interior design and home décor showrooms throughout the U.S. and Canada.

“Our art is made from sculptured clay tiles and expresses the spirit of classicism, for we maintain a sense of wholeness as we unite the diverse parts into forms of grace and strength,” Anne Nocera said.

Schneider fashions commonplace logs into singular faceted vases, and Stillwell will display wheel-thrown and altered ceramic work from her “Nestled Vessels” series. Her vessels engage each other in a kind of flirtation, small-scale intimacy and shared privacy while they reveal an exposed rawness that is wrought with cracks, fissures, and bold vulnerability.

Utley’s mixed-media works are multi-layered in form and meaning. Her eclecticism is expressed in glass, wood, photography and combinations thereof, adorned with collected treasures from around the world.

“My pieces express my hopes and horrors of our cosmos. I strive to offer the viewer an opportunity to reach toward that savage yet serene country that is our absolute essence,” Utley said.

For more information call 845/436-4227.