Artists "Cross the Bridge" To Take Part In Hygienic Juried Exhibit

Once again Hygienic Art has reached across the bridges of Southeastern Connecticut and beyond to bring many of the regions premier artists together for the “Sixth Crossing Annual Juried Exhibition.”  The opening reception was held on Saturday April 23 with a solid turnout and an impressive display of work.

This year the difficult position of juror fell on Janice La Motta, who has “over 25 years of experience in the field of fine arts” including being “the curator at the New Britain Museum of American Art for five and a half years prior to opening her own fine arts gallery, Paesaggio Gallery, [from 1991 til 2009]…Currently she is the Arts Program Director at Billings Forge Community Works in Hartford.”

The result of her selections was a beautiful collection of art covering many media of creation representing individuals from various parts of the Northeast.

The concept of “crossing the bridge” is Hygienic Art’s attempt to draw artists and art appreciators from other parts of southeastern Connecticut to New London.  Too often people use distance and geographic boundaries such as the river as an excuse to not visit galleries in their neighboring towns. This is usually a psychological boundary, as we only need to “cross the bridge” that span these boundaries. Even Providence is just under an hour drive to New London.

The “Crossing Exhibit” seems to enable people to transcend these boundaries. “Some of the artists and attendees we see once a year at this show,” organizer and curator Kat Murphy tells Patch. “It’s always the first show of the spring, happening in late April,” which is fitting because spring is all about renewing and new beginnings and this is an exhibit that allows people to renew old acquaintances from crossing shows past.

About 100 pieces made the cut for this show out of about 200 submissions from New London artists, artists from nearby towns like Old Lyme and Mystic and a few from cities outside of Connecticut’s borders like New York and Boston.

“The main goal of this show is that art exists in New London…and the validation of the arts through the support of the community has happened here,” says New London artist Mark Patnode. Patnode received an honorable mention for his oil on linen piece “Getting Underway.” His work is a mix of abstract and realism.

The support of the community was fully evident as hundreds packed the various rooms and narrow corridors of the Hygienic. Another piece to receive an honorable mention which hung in one of these corridors was “tangled in shadows of being” by Mystic artist Ken Steinkamp. His work is a figure intertwined in the lines and textures of oil tar and graphite applied to wood panel.

The placement of this piece at one of the intersections of the gallery was fitting as gallery goers sometimes mingled and interwove, sometimes clustered while moving from room to room.

The piece winning “best in show” was “Office” by Old Lyme Artist Bryan Gorneau. He first heard of the show in his senior year at The Lyme Academy of Fine Arts when he submitted a piece for the “First Crossing” in 2006. This year his first place  mixed media piece on an office sign not only locked down the grand prize but also sold that night.

Steadily growing every year, “Sixth Crossing" looks to be a popular exhibit for years to come. Be sure to visit the large and diverse selection of work at the Hygienic before this year’s show is taken down and consider submitting your own art in next year’s show.

“Sixth Crossing” will be ongoing until May 21. For more information on “Sixth Crossing” and the Hygienic Art Galleries please visit hygienic.ning.com.