Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Totems of Life and Abstract Perfectionism


 
 
Totems of Life and Abstract Perfectionism
Earlville Galleries to Present the Paintings of Maria Rizzo and John Loy
 
The Earlville Galleries open two new exhibits of central New York artists in November.  Maria Rizzo’s paintings are an invitation to “escape from the daily stress of life and to refocus on what is important, to pause, take a deep breath, and rejoice in the colors of nature.”  During long walks as a child with her mother in a park near their home in Bologna, Italy, Rizzo began to experience a deep connection between her life and the lives of trees.  The East Syracuse artist recalls a lifelong difficulty expressing herself in words, a barrier that made a frustrating and solitary childhood, until her mother introduced her to drawing and painting. 
 
Rizzo’s paintings have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout the northeast US and abroad.  In addition to the 2014 Individual Artist Commission from CNY Arts, she is the former Artist-in-Residence and Curator at The Tech Garden in Syracuse, and she is a 2012 New York Foundation for the Arts MARK alumna.
 
John Loy pf Clinton, NY has been painting for over 60 years, and says he “still finds motivation and energy to continue” in his passion.  Always attracted to abstraction for the creative freedom and challenge it offers, he eventually realized that he is “inherently a perfectionist with a need for control.”  In the 1970s, he began exploring collage and was “endlessly fascinated by the manipulation and juxtaposition of fragmented shapes, colors, patterns, and images.”  He says his paintings are essentially about color, shape, pattern, movement, and space, and his “primary intention is to create a unique visual experience.”
 
Loy was born in St. Louis, MO, and studied art at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and Colorado College, the School of Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, the Yale-Norfolk Summer Art School in Connecticut, and the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where he receive his MFA.  In 1960, he joined the faculty at the School of Art, Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, NY, where he taught until his retirement in 1991.  He has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions and has won numerous awards, including a summer residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris.  His work is represented in many public and private collections, and he has been listed in Who’s Who in American Art since 1966.  
 
Both exhibits will open to the public on Saturday, November 8, with a reception for the artists from noon to 3 pm, and will run through December 21.  Gallery hours are 10-5 Tuesday-Friday and 12-3 on Saturdays.  Admission is free, and the EOH is wheelchair-accessible with a ramp and a lift.  For more information, call 315-691-3550 or visit www.earlvilleoperahouse.com.  The Opera House is located at 18 East Main Street, in Earlville, NY.
 
EOH events are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and through the generosity of EOH members.