Artistic Curiosities at ARTery Gallery
Milford. The September art show features new work by two of its member artists.
Looking for a fresh, new art experience? You’re sure to find it at the ARTery Gallery’s September art show featuring new work by two of its members: oil artist Barbara Alice Moir and structural design artist Bill Rabsey.
Visitors to the gallery are most familiar with Moir as a representational landscape painter of scenes from the northeastern United States and Europe, but she also enjoys piecing together elements of design and texture to form interesting abstractions. In this show, Moir presents two abstract pieces based on her macro-photography of the bearded iris. The combination of Moir’s imagination and the strokes of her brush transcend the iris into a new, bold, yet serene Moir-type construct she calls “Florafusion.”
Likewise, local art lovers are familiar with Rabsey’s unique standing-structures and framed art — all originating from his wide travels up and down the east coast. But this month, he, too, takes us in a new direction, farther than ever before — to local and regional evidence of unknown mysteries from outer space.
Barbara Alice Moir has painted all her life, first as a student at Eldred Central School in Sullivan County, N.Y., then as a mother and housewife living in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, and then as a public school band and choral director in New York and Florida, mostly during summer vacations. When Moir retired from teaching music in 2002, she was living on a secluded island in the coastal wetlands of Florida where she finally had time to begin a more serious pursuit of professional outdoor photography and oil painting.
Bill Rabsey enjoys repurposing things he finds during his earthly travels. In his view, “You have to search for and find all manner of objects and save them. Ordinary objects become much more interesting once their purpose becomes altered. Then the viewer sees the object in a totally new context,” he said. When you look at Rabsey’s finished product, you can’t help notice that Rabsey loves and honors “old stuff,” especially extremely rare items ranging from aged and worn plumbing parts, to assorted gauges, to collections of old door knobs.
Barbara Alice Moir, Bill Rabsey and Bill’s wife Allison Rabsey (who regularly displays her collection of original hand-crafted earrings and necklaces) will be at the ARTery Gallery for the opening gala Saturday, Sept. 13 from 6 to 9 p.m. As many of you have learned from past receptions, Bill Rabsey is quite the storyteller. The public is invited to attend this free event which includes complimentary refreshments.
The ARTery Gallery, located in the historic Forest Hall at 210 Broad St. in Milford, is a cooperatively owned and operated fine art gallery, serving the regional artists and art lovers since 1996. The gallery features a wide array of artistic talent ranging from traditional oil, watercolor, and photography to sculpture, jewelry, textiles, pottery, and collage. For more information, call (570) 409-1234 during gallery hours.