Artists in the Cafe July 24-August 20

A trio of artists will be showing their work in the cafe: Katherine Weston, Richard Harvey and Michael Harris.

Katherine Weston is a mixed media artist who combines printmaking with painting and collage. Her work teeters between representation and abstraction--graphic form and organic movement. The mysterious quality of her work pulls the viewer in to take a closer look at the subtle nuances she has created by sanding and wiping layers of paint and the inclusion of fabric and other objects in her work.

She is on the steering committee of the Arena Art Group, a member of the Rochester Art Club and a member of the Print Club of Rochester. Her work has been shown in National shows in New York, Chicago, Toledo, Harrisburg, Baton Rouge, Estes Park, Tallahassee, and Rochester. She has won numerous awards for both her printmaking and mixed media art.

In February of this year she took on a new project that consists of the complete renovation of an old building in Brockport. When completed later this year, the 2-story building with it’s new name, A Different Path Gallery, will house an art gallery, a retail shop and her private studio on the first floor. The second floor will consist of 4 or 5 studio spaces to be rented out to professional artists in the area. For more information visit the website: www.DifferentPathGallery.com.

Richard Harvey earned a BFA in Communication Design with a Fine Art Minor from RIT in 1972 and later took graduate work in fine art digital imaging. His fine art pursuits continued alongside a career in graphic design during which he enjoyed a twenty year representation by the Austin-Harvard Gallery in Pittsford NY. The interplay of graphics and fine art remain very evident in much of his work.

The subject matter of Richard Harvey's mixed media work is predominantly human faces or full figures that tend to portray deeply expressive, even haunting, emotional imagery. This quality is also evident in his ruggedly carved, contemporary primal sculpture, which is inspired by tribal masks, rituals and ancient artifacts.

Though the human figure is a constant theme, experimentation in process is a driving force in his work and he thrives on trying a variety of approaches, including the use of encaustic wax, metal sculpture, and imported digital images such as graffiti.

Michael Harris
ARTIST STATEMENT

While leaving the door open to the expressive possibilities of abstraction, my current work seeks to reintroduce imagery into painting. Found images and an attraction to less than conscious ideas begin the process, which is also informed by past experience with printmaking, a love of the paper surface and working methods. Perception of contrasts or dualities in the field of time (peace/turmoil, light/dark, expansive/constricted, rough/smooth, ancient/modern, etc.), provide fuel as the formal elements are explored and balance is sought. Process and search for artistic quality are uppermost concerns in what is sensed as a healing enterprise.