#2007-03: February 6, 2007 Exhibit of "Catskill Botanicals" at the Erpf Gallery The Catskill Center Erpf Gallery presents "Catskill Botanicals", an exhibition of paintings, prints, drawings and photographs by Judy Abbott, Laura Bredin-Hussey, Carol Field, Sara Gilbert, Margaret Levenson, Virginia Luppino, Helene Manzo, Dan Marazita and Maeve Maurer. The opening reception is Saturday, February 24th from 3-5pm at the Erpf Gallery, Route 28 in Arkville. Judy Abbott will be showing a series of small paintings about flowers and weeds along the Esopus River in the tradition of the Hudson River School of Landscape paintings. Her ancestors, Esopus Indian women, cultivated corn, beans and squash on the Esopus flatlands that she now celebrates with her meticulous presentation of vistas. Laura Bredin-Hussey produces expressive oils full of moods and insights into the human spirit by way of landscape. Her work is meditative, full of tranquility and dreamy lights. Laura lives in Delhi where she and her family own High Meadows Rare Breeds Farm. Carol Field from Stone Ridge exhibits paintings entitled "Fluvial Notations". There is a stream in the vicinity of her studio where she spends time drawing and uses these studies as a basis for creating compositions in oil. Her work shows a delicacy and intimacy of detail about riverbank growth. Sara Gilbert is fascinated with intimate scenes of flowers, mosses and small blossoms. Her acrylic collages juxtapose realistic representations of flowers with textural abstractions. Her personal symbolism reflects the human condition, fragile and yet enduring. Her technique of layers of oriental papers, papyrus and lace give the work an aura of ancient manuscripts or tableaus. Margaret Levenson shows four small pieces that are part of her summer diary series. Each day she painted a small landscape from her property in Arkville in one sitting. A larger oil and sticks painting reflects the hills and fields near the railroad tracks in Roxbury. Virginia Luppino lives in Saugerties where she has a new photo studio. Two pigment prints of grasses are her contribution to the botanical exhibit. She is a master of digital printing and approaches photography expressing the drama of the small ordinary grasses with forcefully and accurate precision. Her language is about the immensity of the smallness. Helene Manzo monotypes and ghost prints of daylilies reflects an awareness of nature and a silent reverie for this ancient flower. Her representation gives an almost tactile quality and the reductive treatment of color and form make us focus on the essential details. Dan Marazita reflects his longstanding love of the natural world, the myriad sizes, forms and colors of fungi. He captures theses images using high quality pigment-based inks and hand-deckled the edges in a manner reminiscent of traditional hand-pressed mould-made papers. Maeve Maurer works mainly with graphite pencil, colored pencil and watercolor. Her drawings of May apple are about a series of plants that were growing in the rich soils near The Vly in Saugerties. The red maple flowers (male) are beautiful tiny flowers surrounded by red-winged blackbirds arriving at bloom time. In total, more than 40 pieces of art will be on exhibit at the Erpf Gallery through April 28th. The public is invited free of charge. The gallery is open Monday - Friday, 9-5, and Saturdays from 12-4.