Then And Now,  A New Exhibit In September At Gallery A3

Source: Gallery A3

Gallery A3, 28 Amity Street 1D, announces the opening of a new exhibit,  Then and Now, by Ron Maggio and Rochelle Schicoff.   The exhibit opens opens September 1 and will run through October 1.  There will be an opening reception on Thursday, September 1 from 5-8:00 p.m. and an online art forum (see below) on Thursday September 15, at 7:30 p.m.  Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, 3-8:00 p.m.

In Then and Now, Ron Maggio employs the grid as an aesthetic point of departure in mixed media works from the past 30 years, while Rochelle Shicoff uses figurative imagery and flat areas of color to trace her emotions during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Ron Maggio, Grid: A Point of Departure

Inspired by travel, social issues, music, history, and literature, Ron Maggio has always used the grid, a form of geometric abstraction, as a framework to begin his creative process. “The grid, whether it be modular, columnar, formal, or informal, can be a structure that I either follow or disrupt,” he says. The grid immediately fractures the picture plane, and at the same time allows for color harmonies and scatter balance, and offers opportunities for repetition. Works on display come from over three decades of investigation of the grid, and range from the four-by-five-foot Morning, Hydra Harbor to the six-inch square Pompeii Regio V. “The abstraction of the grid offers the viewer more room for interpretation,” he notes. “I sometimes like to leave a sense of mystery in the work.”

Maggio holds an M.F.A. degree from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio in painting. He taught studio arts for 32 years at Springfield College, where he also served as Chairperson of the Visual & Performing Arts Department for 14 years. His work is in many private and corporate collections including the Dayton Art Institute, in Dayton, Ohio, and Westfield State University, in Westfield, Mass.

Rochelle Shicoff, A Day Such as This

Rochelle Shicoff began her series A Day Such as This at the onset of the pandemic, and followed her emotions and moods through subsequent years. “Making art for me rests on one question,” she states. “How can I organize all of the art elements to fit together to result in a cohesive whole?” Asymmetrical shapes and complementary colors are among the elements she uses to create and balance visual tension, while in the bas relief smaller paintings, she assembles physically separate sections to construct an intentionally disconnected space.  

During the period of isolation, and her time away from people and usual social activities, she painted the Expulsion paintings. Anger and frustration prompted the paintings that depict Hell. Most recently, while Covid-19 is receding but remains present, she has created paintings that are patterned, fanciful, and full of imaginary animals and foliage. “I see this work as expressing my sense of hope for the future,” she says.

Shicoff’s paintings have been exhibited nationally and internationally. In 1980 she received the Rome Prize Fellowship in Painting, and her commissioned, public art murals can be seen in New York City, Massachusetts, Florida, Georgia, and Mexico. She recently received a grant from The Community Foundation of Western Mass. to create a community mural of the History of Florence, Mass.

Art Forum Online

In an Art Forum Online on Thursday, September 15 at 7:30 pm, the artists will speak in dialogue about their process, concepts, and materials. Maggio will focus on his utilization of the grid, while Shicoff will discuss her work with figurative images. Register on the gallery website (www.gallerya3.com) for this online event, which is free and open to the public. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Amherst Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.