Painting the Invisible: Patterns in Nature, is an intriguing exhibition featuring nearly twenty oil and vinyl paintings on canvas and works on paper. D’Onofrio creates visionary paintings that are a synthesis of the empirical and the metaphysical, and bring to life the poetic mystery of Nature as exemplified in William Blake’s famous stanza from Auguries of Innocence: To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour….

It is this poetic elegance that the artist observes, intuits and expresses in layers of color and patterned markings that fluoresce with a shimming light, like the dance of wind through a stand of trembling aspen. As Mr. D’Onofrio states, “My sense of the spiritual in art comes out of my experience of nature. The melting solidity of light catching and releasing itself … or the feeling of being surrounded by energy systems ordering and reordering themselves in the overlapping necessities of their existence, like loops within loops.” This penetrating engagement with the natural world, which borders on prayer or reverie, is evident in these vibrant paintings, and even in the titles such as “River Walking,” “Enchanted Forest,” “The Song of the Trees is the Song of the Earth,” and “Tree Walking (Maine).”

Eleanor Heartney, a contributing editor of Art in America, has said, “In the hands of Raffaele D’Onofrio, nature regains its sense of mystery and primal power. His works explore not the surface of nature, but it’s underlying sense of movement and pattern.” And the prominent art historian and art critic Irving Sandler has concisely observed, “Raffaele D’Onofrio’s paintings conjure up lyrical visions of Nature and evoke its vitality and magic. Commingling what is seen and what is imagined, they emulate nature’s inexhaustible complexity.”

Mr. D’Onofrio received a scholarship to The New College at Hofstra University and completed his degree at Franconia College, majoring in Art and Biology with a minor in Philosophy. He continued studying painting at The New School in NYC until refining his unique vocabulary, which integrates his profound interests in music, biology, physics, philosophy and poetry. Raffaele D’Onofrio exhibits his work nationally and internationally, including recent exhibitions at The Museo de Arte Moderno in Bogota, Columbia, the Cantor Fitgerald Gallery at Haverford College, The Andrews Gallery in Williamsburg, VA, and The Painting Center in New York City.

“Down the Shore” is a series of over twenty-five black and white and color photographs documenting the people who flock to the beaches, boardwalks and arcades in the towns along the New Jersey shore, not far from where the artist grew up. As Tony Gonzalez describes, “I returned again and again to these fertile grounds to explore the coexistence between the human figures set within both a natural and man made environment. To me, these places promise an endless diversion from everyday existence, a stage on which people play out specific rituals, as when boy meets girl, or when boys will be boys (and girls will be girls)….”

While the artist pays homage to the documentary traditions of street photography, this work is so charged with intimacy that it is more akin to sensuous poems of uninhibited joy and yearning. Indeed, Gonzalez is clearly intrigued with intimate moments, and adeptly captures the expressive gestures and revelations of the human form, in all its beauty and mystery. One can feel the sensual atmosphere too; the stark light of the strong sun in Lifeguards, the sounds of the surf and wind muffling the playful banter of bathers along the shore in Girl with a Striped Bikini, or the cool cleansing spray of a shower washing away the sand and salt of the sea in Boys at Shower. The series seems to celebrate the exhilaration of innocence while capturing casual poses and stares that are at once flirtatious and utterly natural. The liberating angles and juxtapositions hold our attention as we gaze into the shimmering photographs and are seductively lured into the private realms of these strangers, and our own evocative memories of long summer days at the shore.

Tony Gonzalez divides his time between Hudson, NY and New York City. He exhibits his work nationally, and is the recipient of numerous awards, grants and fellowships. Mr. Gonzalez also teaches and lectures on photography, and is an expert on alternative processes, which he often employs in the service of his painterly photographs. Gonzalez graduated with a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art, and received his MFA from Yale University. His work is widely collected and is included in a number of permanent collections, including the Center for Photography, Woodstock, NY; Numina Gallery, Princeton, NJ; the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission, Trenton, NJ; and En Foco, Inc., Bronx, NY. Concurrent with this exhibition at Park Row Gallery, Mr. Gonzalez will be featured in a solo exhibition at the Cheryl McGinnis Gallery in NYC, from September 5th through October 11th, 2008. According to the artist, "The Bedroom series continues my exploration of the human form and features a group of twenty photographs combining the nineteenth century printing technique of Gum Bichromate with digital technologies."

Ruth Shively grew up in Nebraska, surrounded by expansive vistas that may have encouraged her vast imagination and creative aspirations. With an emphasis in drawing and illustration early on in her career, Ms. Shively has loosened her style in recent years, from the graphic rendering of flattened forms to fluid strokes that easily express the subtle nuances of shape, color, texture, light and hope. While the artist still has a firm hold on realism, there is a daring sense of exploration in her new work, as she abstracts large areas of space and experiments with expressive modulations of smudged or dripping paint; and muted tones that all but disappear, as if exposed to too much light. The artist has a compelling manner of rendering perspective too, as seen in the deep horizons of “Tourist” and “Field Girl,” or in the dangling arms of “Falling,” as if those foreshortened arms were stretching endlessly toward a mystery, yet still hinged on the precipitous limb between childhood and adolescence.

"Sleep” “Falling” and “Tourist” are three examples of Ms. Shively’s work that might be viewed as
archetypal faces of humanity that form a modern mythology. For we can all identify with the tender vulnerability of a child immersed in the oblivion of “Sleep.” And “Tourist” is an adult face that most of us know, if one has ever stood for the first time in a new place and experienced a sense of alienation, vulnerability and joy, all tumbling together like the scumbled paint that rolls across the guileless face of this young woman standing at an airport. “Falling,” a dramatic and exuberant painting of a child leaning over the top of a wall, captures the universality of youth boldly flirting with the world, and with the limits of authority. That Ms. Shively can so vividly express such complex and contradictory emotions that touch us all is quite extraordinary, and suggests a long and successful career ahead.

Ruth Shively received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and then traveled to Europe to study art, living in Paris for a year. Ms. Shively worked as an illustrator in New York for several years, apprenticing with the distinguished illustrator Steven Guarnaccia, before she returned to her passion for the emotional expressiveness of fine art, and began painting in acrylic and oils. The artist had her first solo exhibition in 1998, in Vancouver, WA, and has exhibited in many other solo and group exhibitions in the New York region. In 2000, Ruth Shively settled in Columbia County, NY, where she lives with her husband Kevin, and two children, Emmett and Ruby.

Michael Zelehoski grew up in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, but traveled to South America at the age of 20 and spent nearly six years pursuing his vocation as a young artist, including an apprenticeship with the late Chilean sculptor, Felix Maruenda. Mr. Zelehoski, now 28, has returned to the region and is currently working on upcoming exhibitions from his studio in Pittsfield, MA. He is an emerging artist of exceptional talent whose mixed media work will
be showcased in this exciting solo exhibition.

Michael Zelehoski’s recent work includes abstract and figurative compositions created from old pieces of wood and furniture that have been worn and weathered to reveal the passage of time. The artist seeks to save what he perceives as priceless remnants of our past, as he endeavors to cultivate a deeper awareness of the intrinsic aesthetic value in these wooden surfaces. It is as if he sparks a dialogue between the object and its history, between the textured surface of our lives and the history that shapes us. It is not surprising then that figures enter into his work, and that they tend to be archetypal – an old man, a young woman, an innocent child.

“Summer Girl,” "Old Man in Hat," and “Me and Johnney,” are just three of the figurative works in this exhibition. While some of the work has a photographic quality, the technique used by the artist is sculptural in nature and quite primitive. That is, Mr. Zelehoski literally carves the figures into the assembled wooden plane with gouges, and then burns the surface of the carved wood into blackened shadows, adding layers of encaustic wax to build lighter tones that create a chiaroscuro effect.

The abstract assemblages, such as “Dark Plains,” “Textured Blue,” and “Morning” are created with a minimalist aesthetic, but the artist often constructs compositions with strong horizons and explores the push and pull of space within a two-dimensional plane. Mr. Zelehoski also takes utilitarian objects, such as old tables and chairs, and “flattens” them, as in “Winged Chair.” He achieves this by deconstructing a simple piece of furniture; sawing, cutting and shaping it into abstract fragments that he reconstructs as he explores positive and negative space and the play of perspective. Ever mindful of calling attention to the inherent beauty of what is so often ignored, the artist states, “We may take a chair for granted when we are sitting on it, but when we find it flattened and hanging on a wall in front of us, still a chair though its function has been completely negated, our perception is challenged and enlarged.”

Michael Zelehoski was born in Concord, Massachusetts and grew up in the Berkshires. He attended the Rudolf Steiner School and received his AA from Simon’s Rock College of Bard. While living in Chile, Mr. Zelehoski completed his BA in Fine Arts from the Universidad Finis Terrae in Santiago de Chile and graduated with votes of distinction. Mr. Zelehoski has exhibited his work regionally and internationally. His work is in private and public collections in the U.S. and abroad, including The Red Lion Inn in Stockbrige, MA, and La Nacion and the North American Cultural Institute in Santiago, Chile.

Bader's interest in art began in her childhood. One of her earliest and fondest memories is when she was six years old, drawing faces on large sheets of wrapping paper from her parents' grocery store. She would immerse herself for long periods of time, paying limited attention to the noise around her. As Bader grew into adolescence, she began to formally study drawing and painting at The Arts Students League of New York. There she met instructors and artists that made lasting impressions on her. She remembers saying to them around that time: "When I grow up, I'm going to be a painter and paint forever."

Soon after moving to Boston, Bader enrolled in art classes at The Museum of Fine Arts, continuing to paint independently in her private studio. More recently, she received fellowships to paint Intensively at The Vermont Studio Center in Johnston, Vermont for four consecutive years.

Memory plays a significant role in the making of her art, which often consists of expressive paintings in oils or acrylics that she draws upon from her recollections; she prefers not to work from photographs. "I'm not painting in front of the outdoor scene, but rather from the memory of how I wish to recapture the actual view." The genesis usually occurs on long walks, during which she commits the scenes to memory. Often some time passes before these paintings become realities on canvases. "For me, the expressions left to chance, the embellishments of vivid colors and strokes that I relive spontaneously, add form and texture to my images." In addition to inspiration that she gathers from communing with nature, Bader notes that she finds some philosophical parallels in her own paintings with Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past," which she often rereads for its beauty.

Bader says: "When I return to my studio, and I stand before a blank canvas, I close my eyes to recall my impressions, taking into account all the senses that were evoked at the actual viewing. I often begin in one direction, and as I continue, the painting itself leads me to where I wish to go. I trust that, although I'm not sure how it will all unfold, the painting will please me at the end. Since I paint for myself, the changes and surprises on the way engage me in a new and fresh way of 'seeing.'"

Malanga is the author of a dozen books of poetry and four books of photography that span nearly a 45-year period. His most recent books are "No Respect: New & Selected Poems 1964-2000' and "Screen Tests Portraits Nudes." His work has appeared in Poetry, Partisan Review, The Paris Review and The New Yorker.

"This work is really a kind of veiled autobiography," said the artist of the 26 pieces in the show, which features photographs of the cats he's known, and that have influenced him, during the last three decades. The earliest work in the exhibit dates from 1972 and features a farm cat in Wales.

"I've taken these photographs all through my career. Over 30 years I've accumulated these images and really, until I decided to do this show, I didn't realize how many pictures I had. Malanga explained that he started making images of cats in much the same way anyone would take photographs of their pets. "Not all the photographs are of my cats, but I think I took the first picture of my own cat in 1974. I suppose it's just natural that as a photographer you just start exploring all the possibilities.

"As a portrait photographer - someone who photographs musicians and artists - I always look to do the portrait. And what is a portrait of a cat? A cat has no idea of self or of the camera."

Malanga explained that he found there are really four basic, traditional poses for cats: There's the headshot; the cat in repose, which is really a cat sitting on his haunches; the full-length body shot, standing or lounging; and catching the cat in some kind of activity. However, what he learned from gleaning through his collection and gathering up narratives for each of the 13 subjects in the show, was that his own life closely paralleled the lives of his feline subjects.

"This is not just a show about pictures of cats. These are basically reminders of certain things that happen in life as I was photographing them. It's a recounting of our lives together."

For example, Malanga writes this about his photograph "Eban in the golden hour. 1985": "Eban was William Burroughs' favorite cat. Whenever I'd run into Bill, he'd always ask, "How's Eban?"

It was Spring '74 that Diane and I answered a classified ad for a kitten looking for lots of love and a home. So when we arrived at this publisher's office in the Flatiron Building, out from the broom closet pranced this little black kitten 3-months tall, immediately scampering up Diane's leg nipping her on the chin.

"OK," she said. "You're coming home with us."

Diane named him Eban, punning on his all-ebony coat - actually an Oriental Shorthair hybrid. He became the central focus in our top-floor apartment which overlooked 14th Street and Julian's Billiards just a ways up. He was super-friendly and super-smart - and beautiful; a statuesque prince.

Many years later, a cystitis that had been in remission flared up out of nowhere. Suddenly, everything was breaking down all at once. Eban lost a lot of weight, but the worst of it was he had difficulty urinating. Weekly visits to the Animal Hospital for blood tests only postponed the inevitable. Twelve weeks later he passed away quietly in my bed while I was up reading.

I buried Eban behind Jerry Martin's barn in the Berkshires, wrapped in his favorite Indian blanket; it was autumn, 1986. A year later I went to visit, but everything was pretty much overgrown, and there were no visual markers that I could remember."

A number of noted writers have best summed up Malanga's contributions in poetry and photography. Included among them, Robert Creeley in a testimonial to the Academy of American Poets had this to say:

"Now and again a poet is found who is a complex of many capabilities and patterns, all relating but none so isolating in its practice that the one is lost to the other. I have marveled for years at Gerard Malanga's articulate endurance as a poet--and also as a photographer of singular power. He has moved with deftness and great authority in the various worlds of art and pop, and never lost either his wits or his footing. In short, he reminds me as do few others of what poets might be in a common world if only they could or would."

Among the many exhibits of Malanga's abroad over the years, an entire wall was given over to his photographs in the 2001 exhibition, The Pop Years at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

Malanga's photographs have also appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times obits, Vanity Fair, Vogue Italia, Rolling Stone and most recently in The Paris Review 50th anniversary issue; he was the first photographer to be published in The New York Review of Books.

Gerard Malanga lives with his three cats, Sasha, Zazie and Xena, in Brooklyn, New York.

To see more about Gerard Malanga, visit www.gerardmalanga.com. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of work will benefit Animalkind, Inc. of Hudson.

In "Form," Arnaud has gathered a section from recent work featuring common, everyday (often overlooked) objects presented in a way that can only be considered compelling. With his keen eye, a functional piece is transformed into something extraordinary.

"Because of my work (in commercial photography) I have taken an interest in form and function, and in simple objects that we look at without really seeing. Things we take for granted. In doing so, I show the power of an arm of a chair, the romance of a flower. ... The beauty of simple things."

Arnaud is known for his telling portraits of celebrities and his iconic images of some of the world's most talented musicians. In addition to his book, "Nashville: The Pilgrims of Guitar Town," Arnaud's photographs have appeared in numerous publications for the past three decades, including Architectural Digest, The New York Times and Paris Match. His work has also appeared In House Beautiful, Harpers Bazaar and InStyle.

For more information on Michel Arnaud, visit www.michelarnaud.com.

The exhibition consists mainly of the fine art photography by George Gruel, as well as selected Halloween antiques from the collection of Cathy Kaplan and original Halloween sculpture by Mary Piester.

Gruel, a graphic designer, has a passion for photography and has won praise for his art. "... I want to tell you about George, the photographer," said renown illustrator Elwood Smith. "He's one of my favorite photographers. Right up there with the best.

"He has the gift of capturing exactly the right moment, the perfect light, the conversation of elements to create perfect images. He mucks about with his pictures in Photoshop, but his touch is never gimmicky. George somehow adds, or subtracts, only that which hones a great shot into an outstanding one."

Kaplan collects all manner of Halloween memorabilia from vintage Halloween costumes to decorations.

"The chill autumn air, the crunch of leaves underfoot and Halloween decorations in the store windows all evoke memories of childhood, dress up and parties. I derive great pleasure from collecting the remnants of years of Halloween celebrations," says Kaplan.

Piester's sculptures of witches and Santas have been featured in Early American Life Magazine four times. She is also endued in the Directory of American Craftsmen, The Hancock Museum Show, The Hingman Winterfest for the Historical Society. Her work has also been exhibited in the Wilton Historical Society American Craftsman Show, which featured her Santas on the covers of their 2003 and 2005 brochure.

Piester uses plaster, dental stone, paper mache', porcelain and vintage fabrics in her one-of-a-kind folk art works. She travels far and wide to antique shows to collect fabrics, toys and trims to complete her pieces.

New Orleans native and Columbia County resident, Schell's recent works explore the psychological effects in The Big Easy two years after the city was devastated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"I just feel there's been so little done with respect to the psychological aspects of this disaster," said Schell, an architectural designer who traveled to New Orleans in January and was compelled to paint what he witnessed.

"The paintings are mostly architecturally driven, but they also include what could be there," he explains, noting that one painting deals with New Orleans' notable row homes that are missing their stoops. He paints, as an overlay, ghostly figures that had once inhabited the steps.

"People lived outside. Now there's nothing for the people anymore," he said, noting that since the storm roughly a third of population -- mostly lower income residents -- have moved out of New Orleans and as many as another third still want to move out."

Schell says that from outward appearances it may seem as if the city has recovered, since tourist areas and more upscale neighborhoods along the high ground looks as if they are in good shape, where as other parts of the city are still in disrepair.

"If you look at National Geographic from August they've shown a map from 1863 (civil war-era) and it looks pretty much the same as a recent map of the city. In the 50s and 60s developers had come in and built up on the wetlands ... all of that is now gone."

Schell says the experience of returning home compelled him to begin painting after a decade-long hiatus. "Those that have not been affected don't want to look at this (work) but I just saw so many people with so much on their plates. I'm just disturbed by how people don't think it affects them."

The works on display are part of a three-year endeavor in which Joel has explored man's evolving relationship with nature through a fusion of imagery based in the photographic process but more painterly in style.

"The presentation of the relationship between humans and nature has changed throughout the history of art," explains Joel. "Traditional art shows nature and humanity in equilibrium, or people at peril from nature, people at the mercy of nature, people supported and nurtured by nature, people living in their rightful place within nature, people reaping nature's bountiful harvest, people fighting nature and people controlling nature. Most species modify and at least partially construct their environment. Our species' ability to construct and alter our environment is unparalleled during the history of our planet."

His work -- both traditional photographs and Giclee prints -- has a timeless quality about it that makes it difficult to place in a contemporary setting, however his ideas are gleaned almost entirely from current events.

The artist has created an online catalog of the show.

"My work is really about everything that's affecting us now; the environment, politically, culturally, socially ... all of it is part of the conversation," he says.

"The conjunction is between still life, landscape and wildlife painting" said Seaman, noting that his works are meant to be seen as landscapes. "I started this series putting artifacts into the compositions. Over time the artifacts became the landscape."

Joel said that it takes him a year to make a picture. He collects objects and props and then spends three months shooting his creations -- usually during the spring and summer months -- and spends the remaining seasons in post production.

He also explains that while he has chosen photography as a medium, it's a process that he believes shouldn't constrain artists to capturing of actual events or of specific moments in time. "I create pictures that are based on concepts similar to those of painters. My conversation is based in the image, rather than the medium. We have a lot of preconceptions about photography. Photography has, since it's invention, been engaged in an ongoing dialogue with painting. Photoshop has given the photographer the same control over an image as a painter. It's liberating to be working at this time."

Joel says his pictures are rooted in both Japanese and Western artistic traditions. Western artistic traditions provide a stylistic foundation, particularly in the use of form, color and light. The Japanese artistic tradition contributes a unique aesthetic with a directness of expression, the sensibilities of wabi and sabi, of asymmetry, of uneven numbers, and of pattern and space.

And while the process is precise, the message is paramount.

"To quote Susan Sontag, 'nature has ceased to be what it always had been - what people needed protection from. Now nature - tamed, endangered, mortal - needs to be protected from people'," remarks Joel. "Contemporary naturalist art, if it is relevant, reflects current knowledge of humanity's dramatic effect on the natural world or risks being an exercise in romantic nostalgia."

Part of the proceeds from the show will benefit the Columbia County Land Conservancy. This show also coincides with an afternoon of music in the Village Green and a wine tasting at the gallery with Chatham Wine and Liquor.

Walker will exhibit both traditional oil paintings as well as paintings completed completely with a computer.

"I came from a painting tradition, and was introduced to computer in the mid 80s. At that time the tools just were too expensive for the individual artist to incorporate into their work. Eventually my career moved away from art and toward computers, becoming a consultant and developer," said Walker.

Walker explained that he finds his new artistic exploration fascinating as he watches technology become more an more specialized.

As a nature lover, Walker's work is often inspired by all manner of flora and fauna from his gardens to his big dogs.

"I find it hard to put a label on my work," he said. "Digital collage is probably an interesting way to see it. I add and scrape things away the same way I would in oil paint, I'm just working with a stylus instead of a brush.

"In my recent work I'm not making a huge distinction between painting as it is traditionally considered and the computer with respect to its aesthetic value. I don't think there should be. Like a brush and paint, the computer is just another tool."

And although the computer seems to have ages to catch up to the tactile process of painting with brushes and oils, it offers another attribute that Walker finds even more liberating.

"The computer makes learning how to express yourself through a painting process more accessible. This is because one can go more rapidly through the practice and visual testing required to be good at any media with less cost than with traditional painting supplies. This is also true of the difference between continuous tone photography and digital photography." In addition to making the works with a computer, Walker is also shaping his exhibit online having started a blog explaining his thought processes while he was working and producing the finished works. Visitors can go to http://john.walker.name and comment on his progress.

"I always wonder what's going on in the artists' mind while they were making something. This just kind of shows the clutter in my mind as I was preparing for the show. I just put it out there for people if they want to know. We'll see where it goes from there."

For more information about John Walker, visit http://john.walker.name. You can visit the shows' blog at http://john.walker.name/mrtanner/

Bialer, a literary agent in New York City and long-time street photographer, has combined his love of the Berkshires and his affinity for the outdoors in a series of watercolor paintings that focus on the light and mood of the changing seasons of the Berkshire hills.

The show comprises 20 paintings, each inspired by his travels through the Berkshires either on foot or on skis, and which bear witness to the seasons' effect on the beauty of the landscape.

"I started to paint because my wife Lenora and I spend a lot of time in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. Lenora and I drive up from Brooklyn with our daughter Isabel every weekend in the summer and about once a month otherwise. We love New York, but the Berkshires have added a whole other dimension to our lives. We do things there that we could never do in New York. In addition to hiking and cross country skiing, we also attend outdoor concerts and plays. Lenora does yoga, makes pots and presses flowers. I always loved being there but felt the need for a creative outlet. I didn't want to photograph there because my photography is an urban experience. Black and white street photography possesses a rich, urban tradition in much the same way jazz does. As much as I admire some landscape photography, I have absolutely no desire to do it. It is too technical for my talent and taste, and it requires big, expensive cameras to do the genre justice. For me, photography is about immediacy and energy. I love prowling the streets and 'hunting' for photographs."

Bialer said that his interest in watercolor began in earnest eight years ago as a way to have a creative outlet completely separate from the one he enjoyed in the city. He sought out lessons from Great Barrington, Mass, watercolorist Pat Hogan, and credits her guidance for shaping his current interpretation of the medium.

"I think I chose watercolor as a medium because of its immediacy," he said. "When I began working in color I felt liberated. I was never going to be producing photographic looking paintings and really it was the spontaneity I was after; the happy accident. That's true in street photography also."

In addition to the similarities with photography, Bialer has also rediscovered his poetic voice in watercolor.

"Though I have only been watercolor painting for eight years, I bring a lot of creative experience to the easel, so to speak. I studied poetry writing as an undergraduate at Vassar College and at various prestigious poetry workshops, and find there are many parallels to creating poetry. Good poetry often uses a line or image that has a relation to another line, word, or image in the poem."

To see more of Matt Bialer's work visit his Web site at www.mattbialer.com or the Brooklyn Watercolor Society at www.bws.org.

Liz McIlvaine's fairly large-scale paintings are rooted in nature. She describes them as more expressive than abstract. "My work is grounded in real imagery, and very often references fabric. I see fabric as a prominent metaphor for the human condition. Much of my work talks about what it is to be human, even though it may be a grid of light or branches that shows how light refracts or reflects," she said. "Color is also a huge metaphor in my work. I use deep reds, clear blues, and acidy yellows. In some ways the color is the subject matter."

McIlvaine, a graduate of the Bard College, MFA program has been painting most of her life and was on staff at The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia through the 80s and 90s. She presently operates a local small company specializing in custom fabric construction.

Steven Rosenzweig uses dream imagery to transform traditional landscape paradigms into something more surreal. "The ideas are transported: I externalize the feelings of flying, floating in dreams to motivate pictures that dwell between the corporeal and the metaphysical."

Rosenzweig explains that previously his work was fauvist and somewhat nonnaturalistic in its treatment, however the sub context wasn't immediately apparent to the viewer. "These paintings are really an extension of that work. The difference is the process is more a part of the painting." Rosenzweig earned a BFA from SUNY Purchase in 1986, and worked for artist Red Grooms before becoming a production designer in television and film. His paintings, which are varied sizes and often square format, are definitely informed by his work in film production. “While there's not a direct influence, there certainly is a theatrical element to my work that I think comes from that experience," he said.

Friends, Rosenzweig and McIlvaine find that while the nature of their work is not collaborative, creative support is particularly beneficial to their explorations as artists. Part of the reason for the Park Row exhibition, they said, was to challenge each other to create new work. "We have similar ways of talking about art and there really is a feeling of being a comrade in arms," said McIlvaine. Rosenzweig agrees: "Living in the country, being a full-time painter, there's a lot of solitude. Artists need support and to socialize with each other.” For more information about Steven Rosenzweig, visit www.steverosenzweig.com

The Paintings, all in oil often depict well-known views like that from Olana, the historic home of Frederic Church, on a crisp autumn day rich with contrast and color. "This view is at the heart of the Hudson River Valley and I love to paint it as the seasons change," Guthridge says. She travels the region to study locatios for her art, hiking to a viewpoint or boatig in search of a perfect scene.

Traditional and realistic, this collection gently captures local scenery of the Hudson River, Catskill Mountains, Lake George and the Adirondacks. Frequent subjects include rolling meadows, mountains sunsets and peaceful lakes and rivers scenes. Many are on the small scale favored by the artist for the concentration of energy and detail. "My landscapes are part fact and part imagination. I feel free to be a little romantic and to idealize some of these beautiful places," Guthridge says.

Robin Guthridge holds a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the State University of New York at New Paltz. Born and raised only a few miles from Chatham, site of this show, she now resides in Albany, NY. She is represented by a number of local New York galleries including Certified Framing and Gallery, Loudonville; The Mark Gruber Gallery, New Paltz; Lakeshore Gallery, Bolton Landing; Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson; and Masterpiece, Kinderhook. She is also shown at the Riverview Cafe in Stuyvesant. Her work is included in corporate collections including Intermagnetics General Corporation and Cyclics Corporation, and is displayed by Blair House Interiors.

Forer lives in Old Chatham, where she finds the inspiration for some of her latest ethereal works.

"I am fascinated by color, by the emotional effects of painted light, and feel strongly connected to nature. I love painting also for the physical qualities, not only of the paint itself, but also the action of painting. My work is often a series of controlled accidents," says Forer, a mother of three, who is breaking her hiatus from exhibiting with the Park Row show.

However abstract they may seem, the paintings are unmistakably landscapes. There are horizons, water, sky, marshes, rivers and hills each suggested by the painting process she employs.

"Interestingly, when people look at the pictures, they identify a place that they are reminded of, that is familiar to them. I believe we all have visual memories of places and we make those connections from whatever in the image has sparked our memories, whether based on a physical or emotional connection. On a subconscious level, those visual recollections occur to me as I paint, and it is that that I am sure defines the finishing point of a painting," she explains.

Forer, who counts William Turner, Willem De Kooning and Richard Diebenkorn among her influences, has studied at the Art Student's League, The School of Visual Arts and Parson's School of Design. She was also a Max Beckmann fellow at the Brooklyn Museum School (a 2-year, international post graduate program for painters and sculptors) and earned a bachelor's degree from Marymount Manhattan College, where she received high honors in studio art.

For more information, Contact Jeff Risley at Park Row Gallery, 518.392.4800 or e-mail