WASH DAY ON THE SUB-CONTINENT: Susan Winter’s painting, titled “The Washing” is one of several works inspired by scenes of India on view at the Plainsboro Library, 9 Van Doren Street, from August 3 to August 28 with a reception on Sunday, August 11, from 2 to 4 p.m., at which time the artist will be on hand to answer questions about her work. “Connecting Impressions,” features oils, oil/collages, and pastels and focuses on landscapes with figures.

Susan I. Winter was born on a large farm in rural Monmouth County where she had few playmates outside of her family. And yet her paintings, even her landscapes, invariably include human figures. “I suppose it is this lonely background that lends itself to the themes of most of my work; I enjoy painting people either interacting with others or in quiet reflection” she says.

Now living in Hightstown, where, since 1983, she’s part of the Art Station Studio, which she describes as “a wonderful studio setting where other artists are available for both critique and support.” A certified teacher, she has taught art at the Peddie School, at Artworks in Trenton, and elsewhere throughout central New Jersey for over 35 years.

Her influences derive from Master Classes with Nelson Shanks and studies with Daniel Greene, Robert Sakson, Rhoda Yanow, Richard Pionk, Christina DeBarry, and Stephen Kennedy. One of her paintings was chosen to be included as part of the White House Collection and her painting “Ole Freehold” is owned by Bruce Springsteen

Inspired also by Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent, and, she says, awed by “their genius and value to the art community,” she is a charter member of the New Jersey Pastel Painters Society and a member of numerous galleries and arts councils including the West Windsor Arts Council.

Her recent exhibitions include works on paper at the Philadelphia Sketch Club, and one-woman shows at Bordentown’s Farnsworth Gallery, Trenton’s Gallery on Lafayette, and Princeton’s Triumph Brewery.

Interviewed by phone, the artist shared her excitement at this new exhibition, titled “Connecting Impressions.” “The Plainsboro show is a perfect opportunity for me to express my love of people, and let my viewers see how important my personal connections with humanity are to me,” she says.

The artist’s rural upbringing figures heavily in her art, and although she works predominantly with landscapes, people play a critical role in the theme of each piece. But it wasn’t always so. From 1985 to 1996, she worked as a freelance artist with Greater Media Newspapers. “For 10 years I did nothing but paint portraits of houses; after that I did landscapes because that’s what galleries were interested in, but now I include people in my paintings and that’s what excites me about this show,” she says.

“Connecting Impressions” will feature oils, oil/collages, and pastels, paintings of seemingly ordinary scenes that are awash with light and color. Look for her lively park scene, Girl with the Yellow Balloon and The Washing, her rendering of women washing clothes in the Ganges.

In a statement of her artistic philosophy, Ms. Winter says: “I try to capture the beauty of my life: impossible; to try to capture the beauty in each extraordinary moment is only possible through the artist’s eye and imagination. This is my goal with each new painting.”

Ms. Winter’s exhibit will be at the Plainsboro Library from August 3 to August 28 with a reception on Sunday, August 11, from 2 to 4 p.m., at which time the artist will be on hand to answer questions about her work.

The Plainsboro Library is located at 9 Van Doren Street, Plainsboro. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday. For more on the artist and her work, visit: www.paintings
bysusanwinter.com.

For more information, call (609) 275-2897.

THE SOUND OF AIR AND STEEL: Harry Bertoia (1915-1978), Untitled, c. 1970s, Ink on paper, 22 x 27 inches from the collection of Celia Bertoia is part of the exhibition “Harry Bertoia: Structure and Sound,” through October 13 at the Michener Art Museum, 138 South Pine St., Doylestown, Pa. For admission and hours, call (215) 340-9800 or visit: www.michenerartmuseum.org.

“Structure and Sound,” an exhibition of sculpture, furniture, monoprints, and jewelry by the Italian-born artist Harry Bertoia, opened Saturday, July 20 in the Beans Gallery at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown.

Described as a man ahead of his time, Bertoia (1915-1978) experimented with space and sound. A longtime resident of Bally, Pennsylvania, he created his well-known sonambient or tonal sounding sculptures and designed furniture for Knoll, Inc. there.

Born in 1915 in San Lorenzo, Italy, Bertoia came to the United States at the age of 15 to visit his older brother. He learned art, design, and jewelry making in high school and at the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, now the College for Creative Studies.

In 1937 he received a scholarship to study at the Cranbrook Academy of Art where he encountered the work of Walter Gropius, Edmund N. Bacon, and Ray and Charles Eames whose wedding rings he designed and made.

In 1943, when he married Brigitta Valentiner, the couple moved to California to work for Charles and Ray Eames.

His early studies in printmaking and metalwork at the Cranbrook Academy of Art informed the work of his later career. Drawing was an important part of the artist’s creative process, and many of his compositions articulate his planning and experimentation for sculpture.

In 1950, at the invitation of the Knoll furniture design company, he moved to eastern Pennsylvania and designed, among other pieces, the Bertoia Diamond Chair series, a series of wireframe chairs that became an iconic part of the modern furniture movement. His famous “Diamond Chair’ is a fluid, sculptural form made from a molded lattice work of welded steel. He described the chairs as being “mainly made of air, like sculpture. Space passes right through them.”

Made by hand and produced with varying amounts of upholstery over their light grid-work, the chairs were an immediate commercial success and are still sold by Knoll today. Bertoia’s earnings from them allowed him to devote himself exclusively to sculpture and to explore the ways in which metal could be manipulated to produce sound. By stretching and bending the metal, he made it respond to wind or to touch, creating different tones.

The Tonal

The sculpture most associated with Bertoia is “The Tonal.” Varying in size from a few inches up to 19 feet and made of steel, copper, and brass rods capped with cylinders or drops of metal, Bertoia’s sculptures swayed, emitting sounds according to the weight and materials of their composition.

He performed with his pieces, manipulating his artwork manually, in a number of concerts and produced a series of ten albums, all entitled Sonambient.

The artist’s Pennsylvania home and studio included a barn space installation of 75 tonals of varying heights and is maintained today by his son, Val Bertoia, who is also an artist. Occasional symphonic musical performances are held there. Album recordings made by Harry Bertoia are included in the Michener installation.

Besides tonal and static sculptures by Bertoia, the exhibition also features work from his explorations into jewelry making, crafting organic forms of silver and copper, as well as monoprints and furniture. It is made up of selections from private collections, as well as from the Reading Public Museum, Knoll, Inc., the Woodmere Art Museum, and the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College.

Bertoia is known not only for his signature 1952 Diamond Chair but also for his work with a number of major 20th century architects: Eero Saarinen, Henry Dreyfuss, Roche & Dinkeloo, Minoru Yamasaki, Edward Durell Stone, I. M. Pei and others. In 1956, he received the AIA Craftsmanship Award, followed by the Critic’s Award in 1968.

His work is held in numerous public collections including the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and museums in Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, and Washington, D.C.

To coincide with the exhibition, independent scholar Mary Thorp, who has been cataloguing Bertoia’s sculptures, organizing exhibitions, and lecturing on his work at auction houses, museums and universities since 1998, will give an overview of the artist’s work on Tuesday, September 17, from 1 to 3 p.m. The artist’s daughter, Celia Bertoia, who is currently at work on a biography of her father, will discuss his techniques and share behind-the-scenes stories on Friday, October 4, from 2 to 3 p.m.

“Harry Bertoia: Structure and Sound,” continues through October 13 at the Michener Art Museum, 138 South Pine St., Doylestown, Pa. For admission and hours, call (215) 340-9800 or visit: www.michenerartmuseum.org.

INDIAN MINIATURE: Mana Lalji, ca. 1860, paque watercolor and gilt on paper, 13 7/8 x 9 7/16 inches was purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum from the Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund and is part of an eclectic summer exhibition there through August 18. For more information call (609) 258-3767 or visit: www.artmuseum.princeton.edu.

This summer, the Princeton University Art Museum will offer visitors a smorgasbord of tasty morsels by way of a special installation designed to highlight the range and depth of its collections.

Faces and Facets, a multifaceted show featuring 50 works acquired since 2010, underscores the Museum’s position among the leading university art museums in the country. Since it was founded in 1882 with a gift of porcelain and pottery, the Museum has grown to include over 80,000 works of ancient to contemporary art of the Mediterranean regions, Western Europe, China, the United States, and Latin America.

Exhibition curator Juliana Dweck, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow for Collections Engagement, faced quite a challenge when the Art Museum decided to put a selection of recent acquisitions on display. The eclectic grouping could have been arranged in any number of ways. In the beginning, the task of handling what seemed like a rather ungainly grouping, became manageable when she decided on a thematic grouping, after soliciting suggestions from her fellow museum curators.

“This exhibition is unusual in that it displays items across a broad range of materials, media, periods, styles, and cultures and it provides a rare opportunity to juxtapose an intentionally eclectic selection,” said Ms. Dweck who has been with the museum for three years and a Mellon Curatorial Fellow for less than two. Although she has managed the interpretations of several exhibitions, this is her curatorial debut.

The exhibition is arranged in four thematic sections and takes its name from the first of these: “Faces and Facets,” which traces the varying ways that “portraits” — whether of a person or an object — both shape and are shaped by the viewer’s understanding of the world. In addition to famous faces like Thomas Edison and Marlene Dietrich, this section, says the curator examines, for example, portraits of a bird and of a building.

The “Symmetry” section plays with the idea of how balance, regularity, and repetition can offer pleasing compositions or suggest the opposite — asymmetry and disorder — to achieve a particular effect. Here are examples of graphic patterns as well as textiles and ceramics.

The section titled “Assemblage” examines how the elements of a work of art can be just as meaningful as the overall configuration. It looks at collage-style items as well as spatial arrangements and images such as one that shows a network of roads in California. Another section, “Revealing and Concealing,” ponders the way in which narratives, visual layers, and data are either encoded (concealed) or exposed (revealed) in works of art. That is to say, explains Ms. Dweck, “it looks at the way art reveals and conceals the truth.

Asked to select a personal favorite, Ms. Dweck says that her favorites vary from day to day. “Today, perhaps because I’ve been spending time with it, it’s most definitely the Chimu Textile, a fragment from Peru circa 1200 A.D. that depicts a procession of prisoners. It is thought to be a record of an historical event and it’s not only historically significant it is very appealing graphically,” she says, adding “one of my other favorites is the 19th century Indian watercolor of Mana Lalji showing him in profile and wearing gold necklaces and holding prayer beads.”

THE OLD MASTER REVEALED: “Self Portrait with Plumed Cap and Lowered Sabre, 1634,” etching and drypoint, 5x 4½ inches by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) was given to the Princeton University by Thomas F. and Ada Deuel and is part of an eclectic summer exhibition of recent acquisitions on view at the Princeton University Art Museum through August 18. Admission is free and hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. The Museum is closed Mondays and major holidays. For more information call (609) 258-3767 or visit: www.artmuseum.princeton.edu.

The works on display represent a small selection of the hundreds of gifts and purchases that have recently been added to the Museum’s holdings. They include major works by Rembrandt, Robert Smithson, Kurt Schwitters, Hannah Wilke, and many other artists including Jules Olitski, Philip Pearlstein, Bridget Riley, Florian Schmidt, John Trumbull, and Hale Woodruff. The exhibition features Greek, Japanese, and Native American ceramics; ancient Cypriot and Pre-Columbian sculpture; a Korean six-panel folding screen; a French medieval architectural fragment; Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and African works on paper; and French, British, and American photography.

“The past few years have brought an abundance of stunning and distinguished new objects that complement the Museum’s comprehensive holdings in innumerable ways,” said Princeton University Art Museum Director James Steward. “While we often feature new acquisitions throughout our galleries, this seemed an auspicious moment to unveil a number of outstanding works in a special installation offering surprising insights and juxtapositions.”

FACULTY SHOW AT WEST WINDSOR: “Airplane” by Donna Payton features in the West Windsor Arts Council’s second annual summer exhibition of two-dimensional works in paint, pen and ink, and multi-media, by teaching artists, including Priscilla Algava of Princeton; Hong Lu of Morrisville, Pa; Donna Payton of Millstone Township; Aparajita Pooja Sen of West Windsor; and Adam Recktenwald of New Brunswick. The works will be on view Sunday, July 21 through Friday, September 6, with an opening reception Sunday, July 21, from 4 to 6 p.m. and gallery talk at 5 p.m. West Windsor Arts Council, in the historic Princeton Junction Firehouse, is at 952 Alexander Road, Princeton Junction. For more information and gallery hours, call (609) 716-1931 or visit: www.westwindsorarts.org.

Two artists with strong affinities for color are presenting a joint show of their work, titled “True Colors,” at the Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville.

Alla Podolsky of Philadelphia is a Ukrainian-born artist known for her dog portraits and for narrative paintings that show people in their environments, at home, in bookstores and cafes, often in city or town settings.

“I paint memories,” says Ms. Podolsky, “moments plucked from experiences, and in my mind, they are all bathed in very specific colors. Not necessarily the colors I saw at the time, but rather the colors I felt, the colors of the moods and emotions I remember. If the moment was sad, I paint it in a cooler, more subdued palette. If it was happy, the colors will be brighter. If it’s a distinct memory, the colors are sharper. It’s often not so much a deliberate choice but rather a natural, instinctive one.”

For Charlie Katzenbach of Hopewell, primary colors hold particular attraction. Inspired by the prisms of light falling on the floor of her Hopewell studio, Ms. Katzenbach paints boldly in blue, red, and green oils on glass planes in various geometric designs and constructions. Rainbows are often the result and Ms. Katzenbach could be said to chase the rainbow for this “True Colors” show, which includes vibrant primary colors on glass panes in various geometric designs that are often reminiscent of Amish quilts. One such is her “Equal Rainbows,” 20” by 18”, oil on glass and stained glass.

“I’ve been painting the spectrum for some time,” says Ms. Katzenbach. “I try to capture the brilliant colors that I see as the crystals in my studio window break the light into its components. There is an exuberant joy in the cascade of colors and the rainbow is also a cultural and political symbol celebrating unity despite diversity for both the civil rights and LGBT movements. As a person affected by both this means much to me,” she says, alluding to her own transgender history.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of works on display in “True Colors” will be donated in support of The Trevor Project, a leading national organization that provides crisis and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth.

Since the late 1970s, the rainbow has been a symbol of Gay Pride and has come to represent the diversity of the LGBT movement.

“Artists are storytellers. And colors are our words. And all I can hope for as an artist is that my words speak to people the same way they speak to me when I paint,” says Ms. Podolsky, who describes color as both universal and personal, capable of invoking visceral reactions of love and hate. “To an artist, color is a language. It’s how we communicate. It’s how we compose. It’s how we translate. It’s what connects all artists, no matter what the medium, or style, or form,” she says.

The Artists’ Gallery is a partnership of 18 established artists with national and international reputations. Ms. Katzenbach and Ms. Podolsky are both members of the group that includes such accomplished artists as Beatrice Bork of Flemington, Gail Bracegirdle of Bensalem, Jennifer Cadoff of Princeton, Joe Kazimierczyk of Hillsborough, Patricia Lange of Hopewell, Carol Sanzalone of Lambertville, and Andrew Werth of Princeton Junction. The Artists’ Gallery attracts collectors and art lovers from all over New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

ANTIQUARIAN OF THE WORD: This 20″ by 16″ oil on canvas painting by Alla Podolsky is among a selection of her works on view in a joint show with Charlie Katzenbach at the Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville. “True Colors” continues through August 4. Part of the proceeds from sales benefit The Trevor Project for services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. For more information, call (609) 397-4588 or visit: www.lambertvillearts.com.

“True Colors,” opened Friday, July 5, and will continue through Sunday, August 4 when the artists will host a closing reception from 4 to 6 p.m.

Located at 18 Bridge Street, Lambertville, the gallery is open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and by appointment. Printed 5×7 inch cards featuring selected artwork by Ms. Podolsky can be purchased from the Artists Gallery for $2.25 each or 10 for $20.

For more information or to arrange a visit outside of regular hours, call (609) 397-4588, or visit: www.lambertvillearts.com.

POPPY: This watercolor by Gail Bracegirdle is part of the “Dangerous Blossoms” exhibition currently on view at the D&R Greenway Land Trust, through July 19, weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except holidays. To confirm hours and for more information, call (609) 924-4646, or visit: www.drgreenway.org.

A range of works in a variety of media by artists Silvere Boureau, Gail Bracegirdle, Linda Brooks Hirschman, Bisa Butler, Dolores Cohen, Lora Durr, Kathie Miranda, Linnea W. Rhodes, William Vandever, Andrew Wilkinson, and Anne Zeman comprise the D&R Greenway Land Trust’s current show, “Dangerous Blossoms.”

The title of the show says it all. But while the focus is on poisonous and invasive species that do harm to humans, insects, and other plant species, the images on view celebrate their beauty at the same time. You’ll find “Flowery Foes” such as Foxglove, Pokeweed, and Porcelain Berry.

You’ll learn of the potent secrets of poisonous plants such as those which authors like Agatha Christie have favored as a means of murder as well as how beautiful but fatal flowers are increasingly destroying native species in our region.

“New toxicities spell the death of native plants, who have no defenses against the exotics,” says Curator Diana Moore. “Despite their beauty, invasives such as loosestrife, certain celandines, honeysuckles, and multiflora rose spell doom for native landscapes.”

All art is for sale, a 35 percent of each sale supports D&R Greenway’s preservation and stewardship mission. “A key factor of D&R Greenway stewardship is the removal of invasive species, replacing them with the natives that belong here,” says President Linda Mead.

To this end, the D&R Greenway sells native plants grown from seed to local gardens and gardeners. Natives require less water and fertilizer to thrive. They evolved with their pollinators, nourishing insects and birds over the centuries. The seeds are gathered by volunteers on the Land Trust’s preserves.

Highlights of “Dangerous Blossoms” include Silvere Boureau’s oil paintings of Porcelain Vine, Foxglove, and Belladonna, and Andrew Wilkinson’s outstanding photographs.

Don’t miss Anne Zeman’s photographs. “I began photographing flowers for their beauty,” says Ms. Zeman. “I now photograph plants primarily for identification and to understand how they relate to their environment. To look at a plant closely you become aware of something else — perhaps how an insect is drawn to it or how it survives in harsh or unusual conditions,” she says.

For the “Dangerous Blossoms” exhibition, Ms. Zeman writes, in the commentary to her work, that she “began to think about the unique relationship of beauty and danger, whether it be toxic to humans, insects, or the environment. The poisonous properties of many plants are well known, but other dangers lurk, too: the Round-leaved Sundew’s sticky moonscape is lethal to the insect that lands on it; the Pitcher Plant lures with sweet nectar only to consume the unsuspecting; and the lovely looking Porcelain Berry is so invasive it chokes out edible native plants necessary for our birds and insects.”

Of course, no exhibition at the Greenway would be complete without advice on the environment. In this instance you will find listings of alternative natives such as Swamp Milkweed, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Hollow Stem Joe Pye, Swamp Rose, New England Aster, and Narrow-leaved Mountain Mint as well as a Top Ten List of What Not to Plant: Japanese Barberry, Butterfly Bush, European Privet, Siebold and Linden Viburnums, Amur and Japanese Honeysuckles, Purple Loosestrife, and Callery Pear, which have been found to be most invasive to the landscapes managed by the D&R Greenway Trust.

Emily Blackman, who manages the Native Plant Nursery, mentions the following perennials, shrubs, grasses and sedges as currently available: Hollow-Stem Joe Pye, Autumn Helenium, Narrow-Leaved Mountain Mint; Buttonbush, Sweet Pepperbush, Steeplebush; Pennsylvania Sedge, Bottlebrush Grass, and Woolgrass. A current nursery catalog is available online.

“Dangerous Blossoms” is in three rooms at the Johnson Education Center, including the Marie L. Matthews Gallery, named for the noted Princeton artist and a nature photographer, at the D&R Greenway Land Trust, One Preservation Place (off Rosedale Road) through July 19, weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except holidays. The nursery is open to the public from 3 to 6 p.m. on Fridays through the end of August (except July 5). For more on the nursery, contact Emily Blackman at (609) 924-4646, ext. 126, or eblackman@drgreenway.org. For more on D&R Greenway, call (609) 924-4646, or visit: www.drgreenway.org.

PRINCETON PHOTOGRAPHERS: Carl H. Geisler’s “Window” from his series “Into the Sky: Gehry at Bard,” is among works by members of the Princeton Photography Club in the inaugural exhibition, “A Point of View,” at a new gallery space opening this Thursday, June 13, with a reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, One Hamilton Health Place, Hamilton. For more information, visit rwjhamil
ton.org. For more about the Princeton Photography Club, visit princetonphotoclub.org.

Local photographers will showcase their work and inaugurate a new gallery space dedicated to the photographic arts when the exhibition “A Point of View” opens this Thursday, June 13, at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton. An opening reception will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

The exhibition, a collaboration between the hospital and the Princeton Photography Club, will feature five full series selected from the works of the club’s members: “Curves of Steel” by Lillian Ciuffreda, “Into the Sky: Gehry at Bard” by Carl H. Giesler, “Musicians” by Simon Laufer, “Yesterday’s Papers: The Human Condition” by Maia Reim, and “Cannas in Black and White” by Martha Weintraub.

Also on view will be individual photographs by India Blake, Randy Koslo, Mary Leck, Valerie Chaucer-Levine, Sandra Shapiro, Pat Steo, Serge Trigoubovich, and J. Verni.

The Lakefront Gallery was developed with the guidance of photographer and RWJ Hamilton cardiologist Ilya Genin, MD, and Sheila Geisler, who curated this first exhibition. It is managed by Diane Grillo, vice president of marketing and communications at RWJ Hamilton. The gallery space, which is ADA-accessible, is on the first floor of the hospital along the mezzanine above the Roma Bank Café.

Designed as a not-for-profit dedicated to emerging artists to whom it provides space at no charge, the new gallery hopes to encourage experimentation and creativity. The idea is to provide exposure for local artists as well as to enrich the hospital environment by bringing original artwork to the walls of the hospital. Curator Sheila Geisler is happy to consider new photographic art of all kinds.

The new gallery shares a kindred philosophy with the Princeton Photography Club. Founded by a small group of photographers in 1982, the Club promotes artistic excellence while helping its members gain expertise in photographic techniques. Its nearly 300 photographers range from veteran professionals to beginners. “It has been my privilege to be president of the club for the past six years,” said Carl H. Geisler. “What a delight to have seen the club grow and the quality of images soar.”

The club meets regularly at the D&R Greenway Land Trust’s Johnson Education Center. During the past few years it has hosted talks by invited photographers the likes of Amy Arbus, Larry Fink, Emmet Gowen, Seward Johnson, Stephen Perloff, Mary Louise Pierson, Jeff Rotman, Ernestine Ruben, and George Tice.

In addition, the club hosts workshops throughout the year, led by experts and by members with particular knowledge and skills in the areas of introductory and advanced camera techniques, color management and composition, image editing, documentary photography, matting and framing, and more.

Dr. Genin offers monthly workshops and Ricardo Barros gives two sequential six-session courses in creativity, in which he explores what makes a creative photograph. Each level has a waiting list as word of mouth has spread and class size is limited.

“A Point of View” is at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, One Hamilton Health Place, Hamilton. For more information, visit rwjhamilton.org. To submit work for consideration, contact gallery curator Sheila Geisler at (732) 422-3676 or sgeisler@rci.rutgers.edu. For more about the Princeton Photography Club, visit princetonphotoclub.org.

INTO THE GARDEN: Hopewell’s fine art photography gallery features works by Martha Weintraub, whose “Conservatory,” shown here, is one of several garden images on view. Ms. Weintraub creates hand-colored gel transfers from her photographs to yield whimsical and often surrealistic landscapes.
(Image Courtesy of Gallery 14)

Photographers Martha Weintraub, Rhoda Kassof-Isaac, and Wiebke Martens feature in a joint exhibition at Hopewell’s fine photography Gallery 14, opening Friday June 7 and running through July 7.

Ms. Weintraub has a series of “Into the Garden” images in the show. “Since the ancient Egyptians, people have been taming the wilderness into spaces reflecting beauty, style, and status,” says Ms. Weintraub, who likens a garden to a work of art “Like painters, garden designers plan perspectives of foreground, middle, and background in their compositions. Designs thus express more than the flowers, trees, shrubs, and water features they may include; history and geography influence design; European and American gardens differ from the gardens of the Far East, which value irregularity and surprise.”

Ms. Weintraub approaches her photography as if it were painting rather than a record of reality. In Photoshop she often improvises, combining and modifying different elements to create a composition. Some of her work is whimsical and surrealistic with imaginary and colorful landscapes, while other work is sensitive consisting of lovely botanical renditions. In either case the viewer is invited to immerse oneself in quiet contemplation.

She has visited many gardens near her home and in travels abroad. For her garden images, she creates hand-colored gel transfers, post computer. She begins by taking photographs, which she then converts to black and white positives and prints on transfer film. Using a gel medium and a roller, she transfers the positives to artist’s water color paper and then hand-colors each image using water color pencils and acrylic paints.

The results are impressions of gardens, not literal translations. Her work is reminiscent of illustrations found in 19th century English literature, etchings, and Chinese and Japanese wood block prints.

Ms. Weintraub’s photographs have been chosen for a number of local and national juried shows. Her image City of Books was awarded Best in Show at Phillips’ Mill Annual Photography Exhibit in 2012. She is the current president of Gallery 14 and her work can be viewed at: www.martha
weintraub.com.

Both painter and photographer, Ms. Kassof-Isaac is a founding member of Gallery 14 and has been inspired by the group’s growth and reputation. “This gallery is a place where professional photographers gather to discuss, share, and explore the new directions that the art of photography is moving toward. Inspiration thrives, grows, and is content in this atmosphere,” she says. The collection of her works on show is titled “Look Again.”

Of the relationship between painting and photography in her work, she says; “Is this like having two languages? The two media speak with each other and offer greater inspiration.”

Ms. Kassof-Isaac is also a teacher and a psychoanalyst. She has lived in Switzerland and Italy for many years. Her photographic work is enhanced by painting on each image.

Ms. Martens has been fascinated by photography ever since receiving her first camera at age 12 and concentrated on travel and landscape when she grew up.

In recent years, she has significantly expanded the scope of her work, exploring the great variety of textures, patterns, and colors in nature.

Last year, on a tour of Iceland, she was captivated by the landscapes, from farm houses in lush, green, pastoral settings to surreal black tuff ring volcanoes. Looking closely, she discovered small flowers covering an orange rock face, algae growing on stones like hair, and beautiful basalt formations. Her images capture the contrasting colors of Iceland. Her collection “Colors of Iceland” is in Gallery 14‘s Goodkind Gallery.

Her work has previously been exhibited at Dalet Gallery in Philadelphia, Art Way Gallery in Plainsboro, and the Bank of Princeton in Lambertville, among others.

For more information and gallery hours, call (609) 333-8511.

PASTORAL PRINCETON: Charles McVicker’s oil painting, “Mustard Field, The Great Road”, will be one of his works on show in the joint exhibit with Lucy Graves McVicker opening with a reception from 3 to 6 p.m. this Sunday, June 2, at the Sawmill Gallery at Prallsville Mills, Route 29, Stockton. (Image Courtesy of the Artist)

Although they share their home and their lives, and have the creative impulse in common, husband and wife artists Lucy Graves McVicker and Charles McVicker rarely exhibit their artwork together. So, the show that opens this Sunday, June 2, at the Sawmill Gallery at Prallsville Mills in Stockton, promises to be a rare treat.

The exhibition, for which there is a reception from 3 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, is titled “Opposites Attract,” appropriately enough. This is their first joint show in many years.

As the exhibition will demonstrate, each artist has maintained a unique approach borne of differing personalities, temperaments, and conceptions of art. Although they have worked side by side for many years, the couple say that they have not influenced each others’ output. Rather, with encouragement and humor, each has watched the other develop an individual artistic path.

Through critiques, art classes, and individual teaching, the couple has affected a broad range of local artists over the years.

The McVickers married after college when Charles was in the Army. Lucy supported her husband while he studied at The Art Center College of Design on the GI Bill, and raised the couple’s three daughters when they came to Princeton, during which time he commuted to Manhattan as a free-lance illustrator. When their youngest daughter, Heather, was in school, Lucy commuted to Parsons School of Design for two years to renew her own interest in painting.

WATER WORLD: This acrylic painting titled “Deep Water’s Treasures,” by Lucy Graves McVicker will be on show in a rare joint husband and wife exhibition opening, Sunday, June 2, and running through June 15 at the Sawmill Gallery at Prallsville Mills, Route 29, Stockton.

Mr. McVicker, then became an assistant professor of art at The College of New Jersey, and both artists began to enter local, statewide, and national juried exhibits.

Both have won significant honors and awards in state and national competitions and both are called on to serve as jurors for art exhibitions.

Charles McVicker has works in the permanent collections of the U.S. Capital, The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers, and Princeton University. As one of the founders of the Princeton Artists Alliance, he has seen this organization expand the scope of art through significant venues such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Gallery, The Newark Museum, and the Noyes Museum in Oceanville, NewJersey.

Artwork by Lucy Graves McVicker is in the collections of Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson and Johnson, AtlantiCare, and ADP Corporation. She was represented by Janet Hunt of the Coryell Gallery in Lambertville for over 15 years.

Both have paintings in the collection of the DuPont Corporation, and their artworks have recently been selected to be hung in both the Capital Health System’s new hospital, and The University Medical Center at Princeton.

The exhibition benefits the Delaware River Mill Society and takes place through June 15 at the Sawmill Gallery at Prallsville Mills, Route 29, north of Lambertville, Gallery hours are: Tuesday through Sunday, 1-6 p.m. Charles McVicker will lead a gallery “Talk and Tour” on Wednesday June 5, at 2 p.m. and Lucy Graves McVicker will offer a watercolor demonstration on Saturday, June 8 at 2 p.m.

TIGERS ON PARADE: This Princeton reunion scene is among the works by artist Jay McPhillips in a new exhibition opening, Saturday, May 18 and running through June 14 at Jane on Spring Street. The artist will be on hand to greet visitors from noon to 4 p.m. For more, visit: www.jaymcphillips.com.

The James McPhillips Museum and Gift Shop Show opens at Jane on Spring Street this Saturday, May 18, with a Meet and Greet with the artist from noon to 4 p.m.

Jane is a consignment and fair trade shop owned by Jane Henderson Kenyon and her daughter Isabelle Kenyon. In addition to selling men’s and women’s clothing, jewelry, and home goods, the store has recycled and fair trade items.

It has also made room for original artwork by local artists.

Store manager Johnna Hooban, who has worked at Jane for two years, recalls the first time James (Jay) McPhillips stopped by. “He’s funny and personable and phenomenally talented,” recalls Ms. Hooban. “He was interested in the fact that the store consigns artwork and he brought along his oil paintings. We thought his work was out of this world.”

Since then, Mr. McPhillips has had oil paintings regularly on display at Jane alongside items such as T-shirts. His work has also been featured at Small World Cafe, in the NJ Skateshop, 72 Witherspoon Street, and at the Chapman Gallery, 46 E. State St., Doylestown, Pa.

The former Comedy Central TV staffer and advertising agency art director, whose diverse clients have included The Guggenheim Museum and Brooklyn Chewing Gum, has worked in the Princeton area for over a decade, five of those, from 2002 to 2007, as McCarter Theatre’s graphic designer.

His work has been exhibited on Times Square billboards, gallery paintings, clothing, bumper stickers, and numerous print and web publications. He has an ear for humor and an eye for visual puns. Witness his T-shirts sporting the face of musician Prince above the word Ton. His book of humorous stories, drawings, and notions, Staff Pick is available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.

A native of Philadelphia, now residing in Doylestown, Mr. McPhillips was living in Lambertville when he first came to Princeton to work for McCarter. Before that, his two-hour daily train commute to Manhattan for his job at Comedy Central was compensated for by his love of the work there, creating ads for shows such as South Park and The Daily Show.

While working at McCarter and cutting across the Princeton University campus on his way into town, the artist began painting local scenes. “The architecture in Princeton is incredible,” says Mr. McPhillips who has also painted scenes of Bucks County and Doylestown.

Since leaving McCarter, the artist has been focusing full-time on painting and on producing his own greeting cards, T-shirts, bags and other items. He’s received several local commissions for his work and hopes that the exhibition at Jane will result in more exposure. The exhibition will feature some 15 oil paintings, influenced by the Pennsylvania Impressionists and the early 20th century Tonalists, ranging from the elegantly moody to the wildly humorous.

When Jane, which also sells vintage Princeton ephemera, was thinking about upcoming graduation and reunions, the idea of an exhibition was born. Mr. McPhillips’s scenes of Princeton were an obvious fit. The exhibition will include Princeton paintings, giclee prints and greeting cards, T-shirts, and bag designs as well as Art Mini’s (bagged, tagged hand-painted mini paintings of famous works throughout art history).

The James McPhillips Museum and Gift Shop Show at Jane, 7 Spring Street, opens Saturday, May 18 and continues through June 14 with a second Meet and Greet with the artist on Saturday June 1, noon to 4 p.m.

For more information, visit: www.jaymcphillips.com.

LIGHTPAINTING: The cover of Eva Flatscher’s newly published book shows one of the colorful images for which she is known. Ms. Flatscher has been a Princeton resident for less than three years and finds the town conducive to artistic creativity. With Princeton as her base, she continues to work in New York City and in Europe. She is currently preparing an exhibition based on the artwork “LightPainting,” available online via Amazon.com. For more information, visit: www.evaflatscher.com/book.

“If Van Gogh were living today, he’d be painting digitally,” says Princeton resident Eva Flatscher. Instead of the traditional tools of paint, brush, and canvas, Ms. Flatscher uses light, a grip pen (the equivalent of a mouse in stick form), and a graphic tablet. “I paint live. It’s not prepared and its projected on stage against a white background with dancers.”

To paint live means that this artist’s work is very much of the moment. It’s a digital performance that, according to Wilfried Seipel, is nonetheless rooted in the Dutch masters of the 17th century. “Johannes Vermeer knew, that with the first stroke of the brush a painting is ready and readable for its entirety,” says Mr. Seipel in the introduction to Ms. Flatscher’s newly published book LightPainting (Long Pipe, LLC., New York, N.Y.).

Mr. Seipel is the executive director of the Museum of History of Art (KHM) in Vienna, a major cultural institution with a rich collection of Dutch Masters such as Bruegel and Rembrandt. His high praise is enormously gratifying to the artist and his is not the only voice expressing delight in Ms. Flatscher’s unique approach. Michael Birkmeyer, director of the School of Ballet at the Vienna State Opera, who worked with Ms. Flatscher in Austria, speaks of her as a “pioneer” who makes music visible. Her performances are an “avant garde combination of painting, dance, and music.” The Princeton resident has performed with jazz and classical musicians here in the United States and throughout Europe, to which she returns with some frequency.

Her live performances have taken place in the Jewish Museum in Vienna; the Festival Hall, St.Pölten, Austria; the Schauspielhaus, Bremen, Germany; and the Musikvereinssaal, Vienna.

Ms. Flatscher’s work “transforms traditional understanding of fine art and takes it to an entirely new level,” says Mr. Seipel. “At times, Eva Flatscher’s productions recall the Traumpfade, the ‘song lines’ or ‘dream lines’ of the Australian aborigines, who by dancing and singing seek to decipher the mystery of the cosmos, of ‘dreamtime,’ in a pictorial realization of the past.”

As a record of her work, Ms. Flatscher created 40 pieces, not on canvas, but on satin. These are the paintings in LightPainting, and that will be presented in a upcoming exhibition that is still in the beginning stages of preparation.

Created during live performances in venues spanning the globe, the paintings were meticulously finished in the artist’s Princeton studio.

Originally from Vienna, Ms. Flatscher and her husband, journalist Alfons A. Flatscher, moved to Princeton just under three years ago and have made their home on Birch Avenue close to the center of town. The artist, who describes herself as a city-lover, says the move was prompted by a desire for a comfortable town with good schools that would be a safe environment for the couple’s two children: David (17) and Alina (15), now a junior and freshman at Princeton High School.

“There is a high quality of life here in Princeton, especially for a painter,” says Ms. Flatscher who describes the move as having been surprisingly easy. She describes the people here as “warm and welcoming.”

LightPainting by Eva Flatscher is available online via Amazon.com. For more information, visit: www.evaflatscher.com/book.

CAN THIS REALLY BE CLAY?: The black and white image shown here does little justice to the iridescent greens and blues of Hideaki Miyamura’s porcelain “Bottle with Starry Night Glaze.” Mr. Miyamura achieves a result that you would swear could only be achieved on glass. His work will be on display and for sale this weekend as part of Morven in May’s weekend celebration of art, craft, and garden at the Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton Street. For Friday night Preview Party tickets, call (609) 924-8144, ext. 113. For more information, visit: www.morven.org.

If April is Communiversity, May is Morven. Coming on the heels of last weekend’s town-wide festival, this weekend’s “Morven in May: A Celebration of Art, Craft, and Garden” promises a more leisurely pace but just as much interest for those inclined toward the arts, crafts, and gardens.

The event starts on Friday evening, with a special preview reception, and runs through Sunday, May 5.

The museum has selected 20 professional artists and artisans from throughout the northeast region of the U.S. to present their works in glass, ceramics, decorative and wearable fiber, mixed media, jewelry, furniture, and fine art.

Included among them is the Japanese-born ceramicist Hideaki Miyamura, now based in New Hampshire. His work is compelling and exquisite. To look is to want to touch.

Mr. Miyamura’s fine porcelain is much-collected and can be found in the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, New York’s Museum of Arts and Design, Newark Museum of Art, Sackler Museum at Harvard University, Cambridge, and Wheaton College, Newton, Mass. He is revered by serious private collectors.

Known for his experimentation with traditional Chinese glazing techniques and for recreating the Yohen Tenmoku glaze of the Sung Dynasty, the artist’s interest in glazes stems from ancient Chinese tea bowls with such ancient and rare glazes that no one has been able to reproduce. He set out to create new iridescent glazes that convey inner feelings of purity and peacefulness.

During a five year apprenticeship in Japan, he developed new glazes, mainly Tenmoku, those dark brown/black glazes with a varied iridescent quality, and “oil spotting.” His research involved over 10,000 test pieces. Ultimately, the hard work paid off. Mr. Miyamura discovered the iridescent glaze on a black background, his original contribution to the art of Yohen Tenmoku.

“Over the last few years”, says Mr. Miyamura on his web site, “I have experimented to discover new glazes which combine crystallization with iridescence. I have researched crystal glaze techniques in the United States, Europe, Japan, and China. In the long history of crystal glazes, I could find no iridescent crystal glaze.”

The artist’s search, which he describes as a “ten-year long passion” for an “iridescent crystal glaze which has never been made anywhere, at anytime in history,” yielded his newest glaze: the Yohen Crystal Glaze, inspired by the “stars glistening in a night sky.” According to Mr. Miyamura, it’s “the most complicated glaze formula and firing process that I have ever done.” A fitting culmination to a lifelong passion.

While glazes may be at the heart of Mr. Miyamura’s work, form is not forgotten. He creates his own interpretations of the classical. “I am very conscious of the ways in which a form interacts with the space around it,” he says. “I want my pieces to feel in balance with their environment, to feel as though they co-exist naturally with their surroundings. When I create my pieces, I hope to make people feel good when they look at my work. My goal is to try and evoke a feeling of inner peace and tranquility.” To see more of Mr. Miyamura’s work, visit: www.miyamurastudio.com.

Along with Mr. Miyamura’s stunning work, this year’s event includes: beaded sculpture by Tristyn Albright; wearable fiber arts by Tess Colburn and Gary Temple, and Pamela Bracci; baskets by Martha Dreswick; ceramics by Katherine Hackl and Phoebe Wiley; jewelry by Sheila Fernekes, Beth Judge, and Sue Sachs; furniture from John Landis and Brad Smith; glass artistry by Karen Caldwell and Nick Leonoff; fine art paintings by Meg Michael; turned wood by James Ruocco; decorative fiber arts by Erin Wilson; clothing designs by Tess Crowninshield; and floorcloths by Elie Wyeth. Their hand-crafted offerings will be displayed for sale in gallery-style booths, under a grand tent on the museum’s Great Lawn.

Heirloom Plant Sale

For many locals, the arts and crafts sale is the highlight of Morven in May. For others, it’s the museum’s heirloom plant sale, which has grown in the last few years to become a stellar source of unusual heirloom perennials and annuals.

For the general public, the sale is open Saturday May 4, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday May 5, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Friends of Morven get to preview the plant sale on Friday from 1 to 3 p.m. Not only do Friends get first pick, they receive a 10 percent discount, which might well make it worth your while to join the group. The individual $40 level gives you free access to the museum, discounts, and other benefits. For more information, including a list of all the plants available, visit www.morven.org.

Garden enthusiasts will find this sale a must for heirloom vegetables and classic herbs. You will also find perennials, biennials, peonies and tree peonies, shrubs and roses, climbers and cascading plants, as well as plants suitable for containers. The online listing is peppered with timely tips (like mulching with straw instead of that smelly black stuff).

On Saturday at 2 p.m., botanical artist Wendy Hollander, will speak about the edible plants that grow in fields, forests, even your own backyard. Ms. Hollander is the illustrator and co-author, with Dina Falconi, of Foraging and Feasting, a combination field guide and cookbook that will be published next month. She will draw upon her “food for free” enthusiasm for forgotten skills that once allowed many to recognize edible plants in the wild and bring them in the kitchen to create delicious and nutritious meals. Admission to her talk is free with art show admission.

Before you leave the garden, however, look out for Artful Trellises in the Garden, featuring freestanding trellises designed and built by local community groups, individuals, and businesses. These will be going up and planted with annual vines over the summer at Morven.

Sponsors for this year’s event, proceeds from which help fund the museum’s collections, exhibitions, historic gardens, and educational programs, include: Rago Arts and Auction Center; Callaway Henderson Sotheby’s International Realty; PNC Wealth Management; Saul Ewing, LLC; Munich RE; Masterminds Agency; Contemporary Graphics; and Jack Morton Exhibits.

“Morven in May: A Celebration of Art, Craft and Garden” at the Morven Museum and Garden, 55 Stockton Street, starts Friday, May 3, and runs through Sunday, May 5. Preview Garden Party tickets are available by calling the museum at (609) 924-8144 extension 113.

Tickets for the Saturday and Sunday public sale are available at the door and are $10 per person ($8 for Friends of Morven). No ticket is necessary for the plant sale. For more information and to purchase tickets: visit: www.morven.org.

For Preview Garden Party tickets, call (609) 924-8144, ext. 113.

THE BIRTH OF ISRAEL: “Jacob Wrestling the Angel of God,” by the hands of iconographer Maureen McCormick is one of 20 images currently on display in the exhibition “Locating Prosopon: On the Path Towards the Divine Countenance” in the Erdman Gallery at the Princeton Theological Seminary, 20 Library Place. For more information, call (609) 462.0975, or visit: www.prosoponschool.org. (Courtesy of Maureen McCormick)

God really is in the details in an exhibition of icons currently on view at the Erdman Center Gallery in Princeton.

The icons are by master iconographers and advanced apprentices of the Prosopon School of Iconology, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

The exhibition, “Locating Prosopon: On the Path Towards the Divine Countenance” features 20 sacred images including several by the school’s founder Vladislav Andrejev.

Born in 1938 in St. Petersburg, Mr. Andrejev studied illustration and fine art at a time when sacred art was forbidden in the Soviet Union. Iconography had flourished in Russia, reaching its apex during the post-Byzantine era. Mr. Andrejev’s interest in the centuries old tradition of icon and fresco painting led him to independent study with a monk who was an iconographer in his native land. He came to the United States in 1980.

In 1988, he founded the Prosopon School of Iconology. Icon is a Greek word meaning “image” and prosopon, also Greek, can be translated as “face,” but was adopted by early Christian theologians to denote the “Countenance of God.”

Mr. Andrejev’s sons, Dmitri Andrejev and Nikita Andrejev, also teach at the school which boasts an estimated 4,000 students since its inception.

Prosopon iconographers work in the traditional medium of egg tempera and gold leaf on gessoed wood panels. The work is distinctive for sparkling, painterly highlights and luminous, textured surfaces achieved through careful layering of multiple transparent glazes of paint.

Exhibition curator and iconographer Maureen McCormick describes the technique as challenging. “It takes years just to become adept at using these materials,” she says. Egg tempera is an emulsion made from raw egg yolks and water mixed with white wine as a stabilizer (vinegar was used until it was discovered that wine works equally well and smells sweeter). Natural dyes like indigo and carmine, and pigments such as lapis lazuli, malachite, and azurite are used. “My favorite is one we don’t use any more,” comments Ms. McCormick of a pigment called Indian Yellow, the dried urine of oxen fed with mango leaves. Many are expensive. A tablespoon of the best lapis from Afghanistan, for example, can cost around $200. “It’s hard to make something ugly when working with such beautiful materials,” says Ms. McCormick who became intrigued by the medium when she attended a Prosopon workshop 17 years ago. At first, she intended it as a hobby, but soon volunteered as workshop coordinator. Some thirty students from across the U.S. and abroad are expected to sign up for the six-day, $700-workshop at Trinity Church, in Princeton, this July 7 to July 12.

Besides teaching at the school since 2005 and organizing exhibitions since 2007, Ms. McCormick is Iconographer in Residence at Trinity Church, where she produces commissioned icons and offers classes and lectures to parishioners and church and community groups in central New Jersey. Until recently, she was the chief registrar and manager of collections at Princeton University Art Museum.

The Exhibition

The centerpiece of the exhibition is a recent icon by Mr. Andrejev and never before exhibited. Also on display are depictions of the Archangel Barachiel, 2013, by the hands of Vladislav Andrejev and Dmitri Andreyev; and Christ Emmanuel, 2011, by the hand of Vladislav Andrejev.

Subjects include: Saints Maximos the Confessor, Gregory Palamas and Symeon the New Theologian; Jacob Wrestling the Angel of God; Archangel Raphael with Tobias; Angel Hesychia; as well as depictions of Christ and Christ as a child with his mother. Several icons of the same subject by different iconographer are grouped together for comparison.

Other iconographers with work in the exhibition include: Dmitri Berestova; Lynette Hull, Nikita Andrejev, Susan von Medicus; Dmitri Andreyev; Mary Kay LaPlante; Kristina Sadley; Tatiana Berestova.

You won’t find names of the artists writ large by these works of art. That’s not the tradition with sacred art. The preferred terminology is “by the hand of.” Ms. McCormick explains: “This is because we don’t feel that we are the author of these images but rather the means through which they are made incarnate.”

In orthodox Christianity, icons convey “the Gospel in light and color.” They are described as being “written” rather than “painted.” As letters of the alphabet combine to form meaning, so the colors, compositional elements, and conventions of depiction are thought to create “a symbolic language capable of compressing complex Biblical narratives and theological truths into images that can be comprehended in an instant,” explains the exhibition curator.

Most viewers will be able to recognize familiar saints, angels and, sometimes, stories. And if you are puzzled, there is usually a name written on the icon. For anyone who may feel uneasy about the “graven image’ aspect of icons, Ms. McCormick explains her own rule of thumb for distinguishing icons from idolatry. “The difference, as I see it, is that if it points you toward God, it is not an idol, but if it points toward yourself or something else, then it is an idol,” she says. “As human beings we relate to faces but how to represent the godhead is still a disputed issue.”

In 726, the Byzantine Emperor Leo III declared icons to be idolatrous on the basis of the Second Commandment, which prohibits the making of “graven images.” “People lived and died over this issue,” said Ms. McCormick. The Second Council of Nicea in 787, also known as the Seventh Ecumenical Council, was convened specifically to address the problem.

With degrees in fine art and printmaking, Ms. McCormick thinks of herself as a creative artist. In response to those who would describe her as a “copyist,” she says: “Would you call Glenn Gould a copyist?”

Although icons are created according to a strict canon, unlike the art of the west, which places a high value on artistic originality and innovation, there are, says Ms. McCormick, opportunities for the artist to be creative within the canon and Prosopon School icons are as unique as they are similar. “As an artist working in sacred art, one is bound by many constraints, and yet in that there is infinite freedom,” she says.

Like a poet working within  the form of a sonnet, one has to observe rules of prosody. Poetry is a great analogy, she believes, because like a poem, an icon compresses. “An icon can teach you volumes like that! she says with a snap of the fingers. “It bypasses the rational mind.”

As in any atelier, the school has developed new conventions for depicting garments, in wool and silk, and even, as was a recent challenge to students, painting a garment made of light.

“The act of writing, an icon for me, is an act of gratitude. We live in the world surrounded by beauty and there is a transfiguring of these raw materials in offering them back to God. This is an act of devotion,” says Ms. McCormick, “something for me to do with my hands while I pray.”

“Locating Prosopon: On the Path Towards the Divine Countenance” continues through June 30 in the Erdman Gallery at the Princeton Theological Seminary, 20 Library Place. Admission is free and the event open to the public, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1:30 to 9 p.m. For more information, call (609) 462-0975, or visit: www.prosoponschool.org.

Artist Barbara Warren brings together ancient Greek myth and the contemporary medium of digital photography to startling effect in her solo exhibition, “Slaying Medusa: A Greek Myth Retold Through Self-Portraits,” opening at the Arts Council of Princeton this Saturday, March 16. when a reception for the artist will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. The show runs through April 13, a short run, so don’t miss it.

If you recall, the Greek myth relates the story of Perseus who sets out to slay the fearsome Medusa, one of three Gorgon sisters, so gruesome that all living creatures turn to stone at the very sight of them. Perseus travels land and sea in his search aided by the gods Athena and Hermes, sent by Zeus to help him. Athena lends him her shield, polished bright as a mirror. Hermes lends him his sword. He tricks Medusa’s sisters, stealing the one eye they share between them and ultimately slays Medusa. When he cuts off Medusa’s head, the beautiful winged horse, Pegasus, springs from her severed neck

In Ms. Warren’s retelling, she interprets the narrative through a series of self-portraits. To do so, she melds her identity with the persona of each of the myth’s main characters, becoming, in turn, Perseus, Medusa, Hermes, Zeus.

“Storytelling goes back to the Greeks and Barbara is doing what the ancient Greeks did with a contemporary medium and in a unique way by self portraiture,” says curator Ricardo Barros, the show’s curator, who is also a photographer and a member of the Arts Council’s gallery advisory committee.

“The photographs propel the story forward,” says Mr. Barros, “There is an unexpected rhythm to Barbara’s approach; her expressive portraits convey not only the drama and adventure of Perseus’ quest, but also the psychological journey undertaken when one commits to confronting one’s fears.”

Mr. Barros suggested Barbara for an exhibition because of the quality of her work and because of the value of a solo exhibition for an emerging photographer. As a rule, the Arts Council favors group shows, giving exposure to multiple artists. A solo exhibition is a rare honor. “Barbara’s work deserves to be seen,” says Mr. Barros. “It will have a significant impact on those who see it and a significant impact on Barbara’s career.”

SWIFTER THAN THE WIND: Hermes is among the gods and heroes portrayed in an unusual exhibition of photographs, “Slaying Medusa: A Greek Myth Retold Through Self-Portraits,” opening this Saturday, March 16, at the Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street.
(Courtesy of Barbara Warren)

The project started as an assignment from Mr. Barros, Ms. Warren’s teacher and mentor, to represent the myth of Perseus and Medusa. With no instructions beyond the subject matter, the artist was free to take off in any direction. The resulting sequence of images were shot using infra red which requires considerable post-processing. A few of the images are composite. All are black and white. Alongside each photograph, the story of Perseus and Medusa is told via selected texts from the book Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire borrowed from the Princeton Public Library.

Putting herself in front of the lens was a learning experience, says Ms. Warren, who makes her living as a professional photographer with portraits and weddings. “I realized what it is like for my clients! But once I got into it, I really enjoyed it. Some of it was great fun, like portraying the Gorgon Sisters and Medusa. Much of it was very challenging, especially portraying the young men in the story as well as the god Zeus. It took around 700 shots to get Perseus’s jawline just right.”

“I’ve never liked photographs of myself. The camera paralyzed me; I ‘turned to stone’ in front of it, just as I had seen others do when I photographed them. This is why I chose self-portraiture to tell this story,” says the artist. “We all have our own Medusa to slay,” she says. “Our culture’s premium on youth and physical beauty, for example, dampens our self-esteem with unrealistic standards of adequacy. But there are many Medusas, each as intimidating as the next, and every one can turn their challenger to stone. This is why we sing praises of those who successfully confront their fears.”

Turning the camera upon herself helped the photographer tackle her own fears and judgments. “My need to be pretty for the camera disappeared as over the course of several months, I photographed myself as each one of the characters. I had the power to be young, old, ugly, frightful, and handsome,” she says, of the year-long project.

Many of the images evoke the androgynous actress Tilda Swinton. Others bring famed photographer Cindy Sherman to mind. Unlike Sherman, however, Warren does not go in for props. “I didn’t want to stage these images but to use facial expression, pose, angle, and lighting to portray character,” she says.

“The significant difference between Sherman and Warren.” says Mr. Barros, “is that the latter’s work uses psychological persona as opposed to the physical persona that is in Sherman’s hallmark. “Barbara is engaged in a dialogue with artists who precede her by thousands of years,” says Mr. Barros. “Her work here is creative and highly crafted.”

Born in Kentucky, Ms. Warren has lived most of her life in Bucks County. Her work has been published in B&W magazine, Photographic Magazine, and American Vision: Images by the Best of Today’s Amateur Nature Photographers. She’s garnered several awards including Best Body of Work 2011 at the Phillips Mill Photographic Exhibition, Best of Show 2010 at the Phillips Mill Photographic Exhibition, and Best of Show in Voices of the Marsh 2010. This is her first solo show.

“Slaying Medusa: A Greek Myth Retold Through Self-Portraits” runs March 16 through April 13 in the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts at 102 Witherspoon Street. Barbara Warren and curator Ricardo Barros will discuss the exhibition on Saturday, April 6 at 2 p.m. For more information, call (609) 924-8777 or visit: artscouncilofprinceton.org; for more on Barbara Warren, visit: www.barbarawarren.com.