Sharon Arts Center Exhibition Gallery presents:
Near & Far: five distinguished artists, five distinct media
September 20 - November 15, 2003
Opening Reception Saturday, September 20, 2003, 5-7 p.m.

Contact: Barbara Nay
(603) 924 - 7256 x 301

The Sharon Arts Center Exhibition Gallery is pleased to present Near & Far: five distinguished artists, five distinct media, on display from September 20 through November 15, 2003, at 30 Grove Street, Peterborough, NH. The opening reception on Saturday, September 20th, from 5 to 7 p.m., is free and the public is invited.

This exhibition features local New Hampshire artists Ira Gavrin of Marlborough, Hideaki Miyamura of Rindge, Howard Hitchmough of Peterborough, Evelien Bachrach of Hancock, and Sharon Arts Center's artist-in-residence, Kris Calnan.  Despite their current local addresses, all have worked and studied in places as diverse and as distant as New Mexico, Japan, the Netherlands, and England.  On view will be a variety of subjects and media, including painting, photography, mixed media, ceramics and master knifemaking.

Howard Hitchmough, a native of England, began his career making surgical tools for a London company.  Now a master knifemaker, his knives feature handles made from mammoth ivory, pearl, stag and exotic woods, as well as stainless steel and titanium, and may be carved or combined with filework, silver, gold, or gemstone ornamentation.  All have properly functioning mechanisms, with blades made of stainless Damascus and ATS 34 steels.  Hitchmough is a member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen and a founding member of the Knifemaker's Guild.
 

Glazes are the passion of ceramicist Hideaki Miyamura, who apprenticed under Master Potter Shurei Miura of Yamanashi, Japan.  Miyamura has devoted the last ten years to experimentation with traditional Chinese glazing techniques.  He has researched and recreated the Yohen Tenmoku glaze of the Sung Dynasty (940-1290 A.D.), creating his most complicated iridescent glaze, the Yohen Crystal Glaze, within the last year.  Miyamura's works are in the permanent collections of museums throughout the world, including the Smithsonian, the Chicago Art Institute, and the Auckland (New Zealand) Institute and Museum.
 

Photographer Ira Gavrin applies technology to art in his Iris (or Giclee) prints.  His photographs of the natural world are printed at very high resolution onto watercolor paper.  The resulting print has texture and depth that exactly replicate the image on the original transparency.  Gavrin is the recipient of several regional awards, and his photographs are in the corporate collections of Fleet Bank and Fidelity Investments.

The paintings of Hancock artist Evelien Bachrach are representational. Through her work, she intends the recognition of the quiet beauty that can be found in unspoiled landscape and uncomplicated still life, her primary subjects.   Her paintings are oil on panel, most executed with the palette knife.  Ms. Bachrach obtained her formal education in the Netherlands and is a faculty member at Sharon Arts Center.  Her works have been widely shown throughout New England.  In 2003, she was awarded a full fellowship residency at the Vermont Studio Center.
 

Kris Calnan, artist-in-residence at Sharon Arts Center, presents new work synthesizing three visual media - painting, photography, and sculpture - in a sustained consideration of the human figure.  Calnan says, "Orchestrating and balancing the inherent uniqueness of each medium becomes the challenge," noting that mixed media presents the potential for tension between representational and abstract elements.  Calnan received his MFA from The American University in Washington, D.C., and has taught art in the American southwest and New England for ten years.

Open Monday - Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. , Sunday 12 noon to 5 p.m.
Directions: From NH Routes 202 & 101, go north .5 miles to 30 Grove Street.  Admission is free.