Whispering Forest and Other Conversations at City Gallery

[Jen Payne]

Textile Art by Rita Hannafin

Inspired by Susan Simard’s Finding the Mother Tree, Rita Hannafin presents WHISPERING FOREST AND OTHER CONVERSATIONS, an exhibit of art quilts. The show will be on view at City Gallery from March 7 - March 30, with a Reception on Sunday, March 23 from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Hannafin tells stories by combining various textiles, stitch, paint, collage, and digital imagery in her art quilts. Their intricate connections become symbolic of the energy that connects all of us. “We are all linked, from the network of electrical pulses in a heartbeat, to an intimate and amazing sunset, to a close-up of a simple flower,” she explains.

Exploring that unseen connection that binds all living things, the centerpiece of Hannafin’s exhibit is Whispering Forest, a tryptic measuring 18"x24" for each piece, that took Hannafin more than a year to create.

“Trees are so much more than silent sentinels that house birds and squirrels. Each tree is part of a complex network through their roots and fungal connections, sharing resources, signals, even warnings. This silent concert inspires me. It embodies the essence of community and collaboration. It speaks to the universal truths of interdependence, resilience, and the delicate balance of life.”

Hannafin discovered the art quilt after moving to Connecticut in 2004, combining a lifelong love of art with her passion for textiles. Since then, her work has explored landscape, climate change, politics, personal stories and abstraction.

She is currently a member of Studio Art Quilt Associates, the Black Rock Art Guild, and City Gallery in New Haven. Her work has been shown in juried exhibitions at the Slater Museum, Norwich, the Whistler House Museum of Art, Lowell, MA, the Bruce S. Kershner Gallery in Fairfield, The Greenwich Art Society 107th Juried Art Exhibition, and was a second-place winner at the Stamford Art Association’s Faber Birren Annual Color Show. Her work is included in the National Registry of Quilts. Studio 2 is her attic studio where the fun, frustration, and sometimes magic happens.

WHISPERING FOREST AND OTHER CONVERSATIONS exhibit is free and open to the public. City Gallery is located at 994 State Street, New Haven, CT 06511. Gallery hours are Friday - Sunday, 12 p.m. - 4 p.m., or by appointment. Email:[e-mail] further information please contact City Gallery, [e-mail], www.city-gallery.org.