Pleasantville, NY (March 6, 2023) – The Art Gallery at the Rockefeller State Park Preserve presents “Bulbs to Blooming Gardens amidst Elegant Sculptures”.
Artist Anne Bell’s paintings reveal the visual language of flowers and plants, and their powerful lust for life. She interprets this using layered color, charcoal, rhythmic lines and shifting scale, while insinuating her abstraction style that pervades a mature body of artworks.
Anne’s floral images possess metaphors for human spirits. Some are voluptuous, unfolding with luscious petals and leaves such as peonies, as seen in the famous Japanese Tree Peony Garden at the Rockefeller State Park Preserve every spring. The tree peonies, a gift from the people of the Shimane Prefecture, Yatsuka Town, Japan honors of the lives lost on September 11th.
Plants have a variety of movements. Lilies on slender stalks have blooms that reach out and caress each other as their leaves perform a circular choreography. The Cyclamen’s leaves undulate while their flowers, (some like pinwheels and some like birds), fly in unison seeking light. By contrast, a zig zag cactus grows in spurts sweeping forth with flair and rounded arms. Anne is committed to an irresistible lifelong experience of exploring the unexpected.
Sculptor Edward Heim’s works in stone, stem from his love of historic gothic architectural preservation. Considered a Historic Masonry Subject matter expert Edward and has been called upon by the Department of Interior often for his technical advice relating to the preservation of some of the country’s most important buildings and monuments including intricate carvings the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey and at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC.
Edward, who is a member of The Greenwich Art Society, The Art Society of Old Greenwich, The Westport Art Center, The Katonah Museum of Art, and The International Center for Sculpture, is a self-taught award-winning artist who has shown at museums, galleries and in public and private collections in the US, Canada, and Europe. His multi-medium creations of freestanding art forms will grace the Preserve’s Tree Peony Garden as well the interior of the Art Gallery.
Curated by Audrey Leeds, the exhibition will be open to the public daily from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm starting March 19 and will conclude on June 4, 2023. During this period, there will be a public Artist’s Reception that will take place on April 16 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Also, The Friend’s of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve will host their annual Peony Celebration on May 11. For information or tickets, please visit their website at friendsrock.org.
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual parks, historic sites, recreational trails, and boat launches, which were visited by a record 79.5 million people in 2022. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit parks.ny.gov, connect on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter
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Exhibit Contact: Audrey Leeds | proleeds@aol.com
Preserve Contact: 914-631-1470 ext. 0