Immediate Release: June 24, 2011
On Saturday, July 9 and Sunday, July 10, Towle Hill Studio in Corinth, Vermont, will present recent paintings by Renée Bouchard and handcrafted woodwork by David Hurwitz. The gallery will be open on Saturday from 12 to 6 and Sunday from 12 to 3. The artists will be hosting a reception, with drinks and hors d'oeuvres, on Saturday, from 4 to 6.
Bouchard and Hurwitz met while in residence at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont, one of New England's leading arts residencies. While their work is quite distinct, they share an affinity for the subtleties of color and texture and they both revel in the little details that others often overlook. Bouchard, who received her BFA From the Maine College of Art, is an active artist and art teacher based out of Bennington, Vermont. Hurwitz is a professional woodworker who received his BFA from the School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology. His home and studio are both located in Randolph, Vermont.
Bouchard will be exhibiting recent works, painted over the last two years. Since the summer of 2009 she has been exploring the traditions and pushing
the boundaries of plein air landscape painting. Of this work she has written, “When painting landscapes from observation, I am more interested in recreating my perception of a place than I am in depicting the reality of it. Similarly, with landscapes that are executed in my studio, psychological atmospheres are created in memory of an experience or invented. Escaping the confines of one reality and entering an alternate reality is often where I find meaning within the complexity of the mind and the emotions it houses.” Since last summer Bouchard has been combining her interest in the landscape with inspirations she encountered on a trip to Italy. In addition to a love for the rich, earthy palette of the Tuscan landscape, Bouchard has
taken a deep interest in some of the historical works of art that she encountered in Italy's many churches. The work inspired by her Italian sojourn has been
part of an ongoing quest by Bouchard to reconcile history, religion and her own spirituality. She writes of this work, “With a continual interest in the role that spirituality plays in my life and work, I paint from observation, exploring the space in between the form and the formless. As in Zen painting, one mark is capable of containing many aspects of nature and human presence. In this way, I consider my paintings to be mindscapes as much as landscapes. A conundrum lies in the range of experiences and identities within the story of my sequence of mark making. Often the marks are inexplicable passages of time between presence and absence. The duration is a series of interwoven, never endings.”A true craftsmen, Hurwitz designs and builds contemporary furniture, one
piece at a time in his Randolph studio, using hand carving and traditional
methods of furniture construction and joinery. At Towle Hill Studio he will
be showing a wide selection of his exquisitely wrought woodwork, ranging
from hand-carved utensils and lamps to mirrors and tables. Hurwitz's work
challenges assumptions about the boundary between art and function. During
the last 60 years the much-debated barrier between craft and fine art has
become increasingly blurred and the last two decades have seen an explosion of work that ambiguously straddles the art/craft line. Hurwitz, who has been working as a professional furniture maker since 1988, falls squarely within this trend. While studying at the School for American Craftsmen, Hurwitz took an independent study in sculpture. When looking at a piece such as Hurwitz's *“State of Craft” Console Table*, which he made for a major exhibition at the Bennington Museum that explored the history of the studio craft movement in the Green Mountain state from 1960 to 2010, it is clear that his work strikes a careful balance between function and visual appeal. While Hurwitz's work is clearly made to be used, it is imbued with qualities that are only obtained by a sophisticated aesthetic sense – from the careful selection of native and exotic woods to lovingly executed hand carved textures. There is often a pleasing and engaging tension in his work between the organic, free flowing feel of his carving style and the careful balance and overall symmetry of his forms.Images: "Baptism" 2011, watercolor, graphite, acrylic, and gold ink on paper, H 30” x W 22" Reneé Bouchard
"Luxe, Calme et Volupté," 2010, oil on canvas, H 20” x W 20” Reneé Bouchard
“State of Craft” Console Table, 2010, carved ash, painted poplar base arch, Tamo (Japanese quilted ash) top with hand rubbed poly-varnish finish, H 32” x W 60” x D 16” David Hurwitz
"Taffy Mirror," 2004, carved and painted cherry, H 15.5” x W 12” x D 2” David Hurwitz
