Four Artists Consider the SHAPE OF COLOR at City Gallery

[Jen Payne]

In a bold new show of contemporary work, artists Judy Atlas, Joy Bush, Rita Hannafin, and Tom Peterson consider the SHAPE OF COLOR, a group show on view at City Gallery this summer. The show will run from Friday, July 9 through Sunday, August 8, with a Closing Reception on Sunday, August 8 from 1pm - 4pm. Visitors may meet individual artists on July 10 (Bush), July 11 (Atlas), July 16 (Peterson), July 17 (Hannafin), July 18 (Hannafin), and July 24 (Atlas).

As is often the case in a group show, it was only upon review of the artists' work that the theme became evident. “What stood out was our bold, vibrant, definitive use of COLOR,” says Joy Bush. “It is clearly what connects our individual styles, mediums and viewpoints. And it is our diverse use of SHAPE — hard, linear, solid, soft, organic — that introduces the distinct mind’s eye of each of us.”

Judy Atlas's abstractions are expressions of the architecture of nature and everyday life. For this show, Atlas explores what happens to color, comparing geometric shapes with softer, organic flowing forms. These abstract paintings celebrate the elements of visual art: color, line, textures, light and intensity. Atlas has been teaching watercolor painting and collage at Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven since 1998. Her work has been featured in numerous solo, group, invitational and juried shows in New England. Atlas has been a member of the City Gallery since 2008.

Photographer Joy Bush presents her colorful, bold Enervate series. “After the chaos of the presidential election. I opened the refrigerator and saw some kale that I had forgotten to cook. It was broken and depleted. I was broken and depleted. The kale epitomized my world. During all of the lies, contradictions, and disruptive behavior, words failed me, but my photographs of these forgotten vegetables could express my state of mind.” Bush’s work has been exhibited in many local and regional galleries, and her photographs have appeared in numerous publications including the Village Voice, The New York Times, and Connecticut Review. She is represented in the permanent collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Mattatuck Museum, Montefiorie Hospital, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH, the Yale Medical Group Art Place in New Haven, and numerous private collections.

Rita Hannafin is City Gallery's newest artist. As a textile artist, she weds her love of color, physical materials, and sewing to shape a story. In her pictorial art quilts, she uses fabric like paint to create shapes and applies free motion quilting to “draw” and play with thread, adding layers of textural elements to the finished pieces. Hannafin is a member of the Studio Art Quilt Associates and the Black Rock Art Guild. Her work is included in the National Registry of Quilts, has been shown at the Slater Memorial Museum, the Whistler House Museum of Art, the Windham Textile and History Museum, and in galleries at Middlesex Hospital, Guilford Art Center , Western Connecticut State University , and Connecticut Hospice.

Tom Peterson, a documentary and fine art photographer, presents a series of archival pigment prints inspired by photographs of modern architectural exteriors. “From these, I created shapes and formations of primary colors. Developed during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was my effort to escape back into a childhood fondness for coloring with crayons,” he explains. Peterson has received numerous awards, including winning two First Honors at IMAGES, the Shoreline Arts Alliance juried photography show. His 2019 exhibits included Cheshire Academy, New Haven Lawn Club, and City Gallery, where he has been a member since 2009.

SHAPE OF COLOR is free and open to the public, and runs July 9 - August 8, 2021, with a Closing Reception on Sunday, August 8 from 1pm - 4pm. Visitors may meet individual artists on July 10, July 11, July 16, July 17, July 18, and July 24. City Gallery is located at 994 State Street, New Haven, CT 06511. Modified gallery hours are Friday - Sunday, 1pm - 4 pm, or by appointment. The number of visitors is limited to 4 at a time. All visitors are required to wear a mask and observe social distancing protocols. For further information please contact City Gallery, [e-mail], www.city-gallery.org.