Exhibitions at Hamden Art League

The Hamden Art League presents its spring Goldenbells exhibit - online, of course. Enjoy these paintings by our members and friends. We hope our next exhibit will be back at the Hamden Senior Center, and that we can enjoy paintings “in the flesh,” as we did in the past.

The judge is Michael Centrella, who is a Connecticut artist working in a variety of media. Although art has been one of his lifelong interests, he began creating art in earnest only later. He is mainly inspired by 20th century realists and modernists, and produces landscapes, cityscapes, still life images and figures. His paintings have been shown at public and commercial galleries, invited group and solo shows and reside in many collections throughout the USA.

He has generously donated his honorarium to HAL with the request that it be used for $50 awards to our Honorable Mention painters. Although we usually do not have monetary awards for the Honorable Mention category, we want to honor the wishes of the man who is giving so generously of his time and talent to HAL. This is a lucky time for three show entrants and for HAL, who selected Michael Centrella as our Goldenbells judge!

A gallery of entries is provided below. The award winners are featured first. The entrants follow, in alphabetical order by last name.

If you would like to purchase a painting from this show, please fill out the form on the "Contact" page (click here). Enter your name and email. In the "Comment" box, enter the name of the artist and the name of the painting.

Our thanks to our judge, our sponsors and to members who helped to create this show.

Rosemary Serfilippi
HAL President

Judge’s Statement: Compliments to the Hamden Art League and to the artists that submitted to its come one, come all 2021 Golden Bells show. It was an honor to view and assess your work.

Few activities are more satisfying than seeing an art show. One that is challenging, though, is choosing which pieces receive special notice. Are they the best in the show? That can be up for debate. All art is worth a good look. Some pieces win awards in one show and don’t, or may even be declined, in another. It can be difficult to define what makes one piece stand out from the rest. For a juror, however, it’s essential. To decide this, we might consider how well the artist developed a good composition, handled medium application, balanced chroma and value, and created an original image that holds our attention. We know when this happens in our own work. Often enough we know when it doesn’t.

The award winners in this year’s Golden Bells show fit a standard of something special to my eyes. They forced a longer and harder look. Some pieces told a story. Others revealed something about the artist. There were several that made me wish I could do that as well as they did. But in the end I thought, that piece worked. I have to believe that the artist thought so too.

Congratulations on such a diverse show from so many competent artists. And congratulations to the artists who landed in award territory this time around.

Entries
Click on an image to see the artist's name, full image of painting and the description.

The Hamden Art League 2020 Holiday Show, Silverbells, is, of course, being presented online because of COVID. We are pleased that there are so many entrants, some familiar, some new to HAL events. The judge was Professor T. Wiley Carr, who had the challenging task of choosing the winners of this year’s awards. His interesting career in art is given below.

We thank T. Wiley Carr for judging the show. He is Professor of Painting and Printmaking at Southern Connecticut State University, where he has been teaching since 1992. After receiving a BFA from Indiana University, he earned his MFA at the Yale School of Art in 1987. While a grad student at Yale, he taught color and color theory. He recently created a mural for the Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital. As an artist, he is continuing his "Painter's Pointing Stick Project" where he takes photos of places and things he wishes to document. He sometimes collects samples of rock, roots and other materials and grinds them into a pigment for watercolor paintings of that particular place.

A gallery of entries is provided below. The award winners are featured first. The entrants follow, in alphabetical order by last name. Click here to download the exhibition catalog: HALSilverbells2020catalog.

We hope you like seeing these wonderful paintings as much as we in HAL do. Enjoy!

Rosemary Serfilippi
HAL President

Judge’s Statement: It was a true pleasure to be asked to jury the HAL 2020 Silverbells Exhibition. The greatest challenge, as is typically the case with juried exhibitions, is that there are never enough awards to match the number of truly deserving artistic accomplishments on display. The exhibition is truly inspiring with the breadth and diversity of styles and subject matter, the wide range of materials and techniques utilized, and the collective sense of community during such an unusual time. I want to commend every participating artist for their commitment to their artwork, and for sharing it so generously in this venue.

Entries
Click on an image to see the artist's name, full image of painting and the description.

Hamden Art League Plein Air Show 2020

The HAL plein air group has been painting in the greater New Haven area during the summer. Here are some of the paintings they did in various media. They plan to keep painting into the fall. Anyone interested in purchasing a painting from this show should fill out the form on the "Contact" page: https://www.hamdenartleague.org/contact.html. Enter your name and email. In the "Comment" box, enter the name of the artist and the name of the painting.

A quote shared by artist Patty Meglio:

“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Walk with those who have ideals, with zest to help and lift, to create and contribute. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it...”
― Wilferd Peterson

These are most unusual times but there is beauty in this world, as well. We hope you enjoy all that these artists have captured.

Click on an image to see the full painting.