The art of crafts

Alliance Gallery welcomes pottery by David Greenbaum and weavings by Charles Blanchard

NARROWSBURG, NY — The DVAA will host a two-person exhibition of pottery by David Greenbaum and weavings by Charles Blanchard at the Alliance Gallery, opening with an artist’s reception on Friday, May 23, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The exhibit will be on view through June 14.

“While drifting aimlessly through my undergraduate years in upstate New York, I befriended a potter who introduced me to clay, and near instantly my life assumed a direction,” recalls David Greenbaum, whose wheel-thrown, hand-carved, burnished and saggar-fired pottery is included in corporate and museum collections around the country, among them The Dallas Museum of Art, The Harn Museum of Art and The Danforth Museum. “Since that time, pottery has been my joy, my livelihood, and the stuff that keeps me up at night 35 years later.”

Greenbaum has worked in earthenware, stoneware, raku and porcelain, and has been featured in numerous books and magazines. He has won first place in many premier shows throughout the US. Originally from New Jersey, David and his wife Joann are waiting to move into their new house and studios in Shohola, PA.

Just across the Delaware River, weaver Charles Blanchard integrates many of the world’s weaving traditions into his unique work. Originally from Springfield, IL, Blanchard studied at the University of the South, a small men’s school in Tennessee, before joining the Peace Corps and moving to West Africa to teach English. “That was where I discovered that everything was made by hand, that there was a manual effort to life.”

Since then, his work has been influenced by techniques from around the globe: the bold colors and designs of cotton dhurries of India, the delicate grass weavings and dance mats of West Africa and the exotic geometric patterns of Nepalese and Tibetan prayer rugs. His hand-woven area rugs and wall hangings are heavy, weft-face twill made usually from hand-dyed wool, silk and linen. Blanchard works on a Harrisville rug loom in his studio in Narrowsburg.

“My inspiration comes from living in a spiritual place, allowing grace, and working with what is shown to me.” While he has worked in colorful combinations in the past, his recent inspiration comes from a study in contrasts, such as brown and white, and blue and white.

The exhibit, free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, the Arts Council for Sullivan County, NY, and is made possible in part with funding from the Visual Arts Program of the New York State Council on the Arts.

Alliance Gallery is located at the Delaware Arts Center at 37 Main Street. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

For more information visit ArtsAllianceSite.org or call 845/252-7576.