Delaware Valley Arts Alliance

		Delaware Arts Center 37 Main Street Narrowsburg, NY 12764 Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. An exhibition of photography titled “Scenes From the Attic” by Narrowsburg-based photographer Brandi Merolla is on view at the Alliance Gallery in Narrowsburg, NY through August 7. “As a photographer, I am always looking for a subject matter near and dear to my heart,” says visual artist Brandi Merolla. “Then one day I saw their faces staring at me through the glass of my curio cabinets. I suddenly realized that I had been surrounded by the perfect subject matter for years: the collectible figurines I had accumulated from yard sales, thrift shops, and auctions all my life.” Raised in and around New York City—surrounded by visual stimulation of Times Square, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the World’s Fair, and the Museum of Natural History—Merolla acquired an early fascination with the power of the image. After graduating with a BFA from Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts, majoring in drawing and photography, Merolla moved back to New York City and became the art director of Tower Records in the East Village. It was there that she began producing handmade 3D displays, which led to a 27-year career creating graphic art signage and displays for the entertainment industry—from Warner Bros and FAO Schwarz to The Howard Stern Show and Capitol Records. Parallel to her prolific graphic art career, Merolla never stopped producing and exhibiting her fine art. In 1989, she moved to Narrowsburg, NY where she has the space and serenity to create her art in a large studio in the country. “Scenes From the Attic” is Merolla’s newest body of work in which she poses her collectibles to create mysterious, enigmatic narratives in large format color photographs—evocative for the older viewer and playfully imaginative for the younger viewer. “I compose my found treasures into various vignettes and these small inanimate objects become animated through the camera lens. The figurines’ weathered faces, chipped surfaces, and crackled charms reflect a sign of age and beauty. The backdrops in the photos are old paintings, vintage postcards, and Victorian prints which set the scene in each composition.” And upstairs in the Loft Gallery “Every artist I’ve ever known has at least one body of work stashed away somewhere,” says artist and curator Jane Biron, who gathered a group of sixteen artists together for an exhibit in which each artist shows one old piece of work and one new piece—demonstrating the evolution of the artist’s career. This group exhibit titled “Now & Then” is on view at the Loft Gallery at the Delaware Arts Center in Narrowsburg, NY through August 7. “Artwork changes an artist,” says Biron. “Not only trends and loves, but any number of fascinating roads can lead an artist in a whole different direction.” Biron requested that each artist retrieve a “then” piece of work from times gone by—something from an old series or an old style. Each artist dug into their archives to find an example of whom and what they were. Then each chose a “now” work representing their current body of work to show who they are now. The works each artist has chosen to display are indicative of significant times and events in their lives. When gathering the artists, Biron made her choices based on diversity. The all-woman show includes seven painters: Mimi Duffy Maher, Jeanne-Marie Derrick, Ramona Jan, Trix Render, Elise Freda, Ahni Kruger and Jane Biron; four photographers: Linda Sbath, Judi Benvenuti, Madeline Zulauf and Sue Kenney; two sculptors: Naomi Teppich and Ursula Clark; two ceramic artists: Tara Backlund and Heather Ossandon and one quilter: Denise Wood. “I’m hoping that viewers will grasp this body of work as 16 mini retrospectives—to be able to see into the lives of these artists and appreciate their journeys. Most of these women are in their mid-careers and have been producing for 30 years. This show is meant to highlight their essence.” Free and open to the public, these exhibits are sponsored by the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, the Arts Council for Sullivan County, NY, and is made possible in part with public funds from the Visual Arts Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, a State agency. Alliance and Loft Galleries are located at the Delaware Arts Center at 37 Main Street, Narrowsburg, NY. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information about the exhibits call (845) 252-7576. ______________________________________________________ PDF of Gallery Submission Guidelines Alliance Gallery Director is Michael "Rocky" Pinciotti Alliance Gallery Delaware Arts Center 37 Main Street Narrowsburg, NY 12764 (845) 252-7576 Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.