Ileen Kaplan – Featured Show

Luminous Worlds

Work by Ileen Kaplan and Carol Ast

Carol writes: “Luminous Worlds” – what latitude that gives me, what ideas it stimulates! From the very literal interpretation of light and the infinite qualities it bestows, to “light” as understanding resulting from vision. While most of my paintings in this exhibition portray the former, a few – the buildings – hopefully will foster an understanding of their inherent value as functional and esthetic icons of the past.

From Ileen: In “Luminous Worlds” I am exploring my feelings and reactions to the world around me using abstraction in ways that I have not tried before. Playing with painted and torn paper, collage, printmaking tools, pastels, graphite and oils has opened my imagination up to new ways of looking at the world and expressing my own inner landscape.

Ileen Kaplan and Mary Ann Bowman

“Color Stories,” at State of the Art Gallery during January, is a two-person show of oil paintings by Ileen Kaplan and sculpture by Mary Ann Bowman. The title of the show is a distillation of the qualities that connect their work–color, light and space. In talking about their work, the artists say they are both are interested in stimulating the imaginations of viewers. “Our work has evoked questions such as ‘What is going to happen next?’ or ‘What is the story behind that?’ We realized,” they continue, “that we want viewers to be drawn into the work and to create their own stories”—thus, the title “Color Stories.”

Kaplan paints on canvas and wood panels and Bowman’s “creatures and ladies” are made from fabric, wood and wire. “Color Stories” opens January 3 and runs through Jan. 27, 2013. A reception for the artists will be held at the gallery Friday, Jan. 4 from 5-8pm with a wine tasting hosted by Thirsty Owl Wine Company. State of the Art is located at 120 W. State Street in Ithaca. The gallery is ADA accessible with curbside parking. Hours: Wed. – Fri., 12-6pm and Sat. & Sun., 12-5pm. Contact information: 607-277-1626, www.soag.org // <http://www.soag.org> and for more information about the artists: http://ileenkaplan.com/ <http://ileenkaplan.com/> andhttp://www.maryannbowman.com

Four Dimensions

FOUR DIMENSIONS, the first exhibition of 2011, will showcase the four new members of State of the Art: Mary Ann Bowman, Ileen Kaplan, Janet Byer Sherman and James Spitznagel. Bowman will show ceramics and photographs, Kaplan and Byer Sherman will exhibit paintings and Spitznagel will show digital abstract prints.

A reception for the artists will be held Friday, January 7 from 5-8pm. A wine tasting will be provided by Bet the Farm Winery (http://www.betthefarmny.com/) from Aurora, NY. In addition to this reception, a second reception will be held at the gallery on Friday, January 21 also from 5-8pm in conjunction with Ithaca’s LIGHT IN WINTER festival. Then, on the last day of the show, Sunday January 30 at 3pm, the WOMEN’S CHORALE OF 171 CEDAR, a singing group to which Ileen Kaplan belongs, will give a concert at the gallery. The Chorale is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2011, by having a series of small salon-type concerts in various venues and they have chosen the State of the Art Gallery for one of their performances.

Show dates for FOUR DIMENSIONS are January 5-30, 2011.