Joseph Salerno ‘A Mixed Bag’: Pop-Up Exhibition featuring small work from multiple series’ (past and present) of Vermont. Provincetown and Italy. Sat, June 3, 12-6pm with an Artist Reception 4-6pm, and Sun, June 4, 12-3pm. Towle Hill Studio, Corinth, VT

kentscorner.org

Landscape: Borders and Surfaces
Alexey von Schlippe Gallery
University of Connecticut Avery Point
1084 Shennecossett Rd. Groton, CT

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 23
6-8pm, Artist talk @ 7:00

Salt Marsh, Provincetown featured in 'Edge of the World' in July issue of American Art Collector

“Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi tirovati per una selva oscura . . .”
(“Midway through life’s journey, I found myself in a dark woods . . .”)
-Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia (Inferno I, 1-2)

Julian Scott Memorial Gallery
Dibden Center for the Arts
Northern Vermont University-Johnson

The Daily Curated by Sharon Butler
Curator’s Statement

The work selected for this exhibition is rooted in materiality, ritual, and the structure of daily life.

Some artists have built enduring practices one day at a time (as Bill W. would say). One is Joseph Salerno, who makes a small plein air landscape painting each day in the Vermont woods. Other artists represented here, such as Jean Scott and EK Lee, have suggested that maintaining the daily ritual of making art has a healing effect in the face of loss and tragedy. In Salerno’s artist’s statement, hequotes Dante from The Divine Comedy: “In the middle years of our life I found myself in a dark wood.”

Incremental approaches, of course, need not suppress humanity. Claire Watson collects leather clothes at thriftshops, takes them apart at the seams, and sews the pieces together to create abstract canvases. Although they have a Modernist sensibility, Watson says it’s impossible to disassociate the fragments from the living, breathing animals from whence the skins originated.

Matthew Best uses the painting process as a way to cope with the sheer uncertainty of life, his improvisational abstract works recording mental shifts and personal growth, move by move. Anne Russinof’s paintings are themselves single acts: she makes them in one go, wet on wet, like the ancient Chinese landscape painters. Her floating calligraphic gestures seem as if they could fly off the canvas and enter the space around us.

Daniel Bohman, Shelby Charlesworth, and Amy Faris are keen observers of the domestic world. Charlesworth’s installations incorporate what she calls the repulsive traces of existence – hair intertwined in the teeth of a brush, a toothbrush long overused, a toenail stuck in a set of clippers. Faris’s drawings and installations examine monotony, utilizing the same repetitive processes she associates with tedious household tasks. Daniel Bohman paints images of interior domestic spaces which convey meaning about those who inhabit them.

Three artists in the exhibition use materials in especially surprising ways. Cynthia Mason’s soft sculptures, based on household objects like shelves and ladders, droop and bend over time. Her interest lies in powerlessness and everyday failure. Rick Albee’s humble goal for his small-scale ceramic objects is simply to make something unexpected, and, by combining familiar forms in unforeseen ways, he succeeds. Elizabeth Mead makes delicate tabletop objects out of white paper and string, then photographs them in natural light, rendering them illusions of shadow and light in a post-literal space.

Douglas Degges and Robert Oehl, both overwhelmed by the speed of digital technology in our lives, are intent on slowing down the existential procession. Oehl uses pinhole cameras and traditional darkroom processes to fashion grainy, nude self-portraits that seem elegiac,suggestions that an era may be ending. Degges craftslumpy plaster slabs on which he makes abstract paintings, like personal frescos for itinerant times.

Rita Valley and Eric Anthony Berdis have proudly political missions. Using absurd pageantry and purposeful repetition, Berdis explores the challenge and romance ofbeing gay in a hetero-normative society. Valley, in despair over our ongoing political strife, hand-sews text-based fabric pieces with buzz phrases and hate words like “libtard” and “complicit.”

“The Daily” is broadly about paying attention, living in the present, and counting time – which of course marches on. Sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, twenty-four hours in a day. Before you know it, a brave new decade unfolds.

---Sharon Butler

The Daily
Curated by Sharon Butler

Ely Center of Contemporary Art
New Haven, CT

Exhibition Images and Curator's Statement at Two Coats of Paint

Brian Slattery for the New Haven Independent

Anne Russinof on Gallery Travels

GUEST ARTIST GRAND SALON
AIDRON DUCKWORTH ART MUSEUM FINAL EXHIBIT, 9/14 - 10-27

Opening Reception 9/14, 3pm - 6pm

Gathering works from the nearly 60 Guest Artists who have shown work at the Duckworth Museum, this festive last exhibit is an explosion of creativity for the museum galleries. Hung salon style, the hope is that this show is a forum to celebrate, commiserate, and reminisce as we move towards the final chapter of the Duckworth Museum’s history. This eclectic exhibit is a display of the enormous talents from which our museum has been able to benefit year in and year out. Thanks so much to all that have contributed their gifts as artists to make this institution the creative force it has come to represent in the last two decades.

The artists representing this energetic program were chosen by the Selection Committee of our Advisory Group from the rich artistic community around us and beyond. The presence of guest artists helped create new dialogues and has provided stimulating art exhibitions for the Aidron Duckworth Museum community.

Aidron taught groups of adults throughout the Upper Valley from 1976 until his death in 2001. He is remembered for the high standard of personal artistic integrity he expected from his students and appreciated in other artists’ work. The Guest Artist Program has continually been a reflection of this standard, presenting works that inspire, engage, and enliven the spirit with which Aidron worked.

We remain a charitable educational museum, and do not offer artworks for sale. Sales of the guest artists’ work may be arranged with each artist. Their information is available at the Museum.

It should not go without mentioning the enormous contributions of Stephen Marcus who has long been integral to the success of the Aidron Duckworth Art Museum. His roles have been those of advisor, carpenter, patron, and master technician. Stephen has installed every show in the Duckworth galleries with deft attention, balancing both the needs of the artist and those of the space so that each is an absolute complement to the other. Although his name is not displayed on the walls, Stephen’s work has never gone unnoticed. Visitors and artists alike routinely remark on the quality of presentation our museum offers. His humility requires him to demure, shifting attention away from himself towards the art on the walls. Yet Stephen’s generosity, skill, and effort have benefited this museum in ways too numerous to count leaving us with a gratitude that our THANK YOUs can only begin to recognize.

Can't wait to see you out here!!!

Ben Finer

--
Director
Aidron Duckworth Art Museum
21 Bean Rd.
Meriden, NH
603.469.3444

A triptych of paintings from the Woods Edge series:
Woods Edge, 3.9.18, Woods Edge, 10.19.18, Woods Edge, 3.21.18
were selected by juror Katherine French for inclusion in
New England Collective X
at
Galatea Fine Art
460 B Harrison Ave.
Boston, MA

July 31 - September 1, 2019

First Friday Reception: August 2, 6-8 pm.
Walk-Through with Katherine French: Aug 2, 4pm

Woods Edge 2.22.18.2 was chosen by co-curators Sharon Butler and Stephanie Theodore for inclusion in 'Spirit of the Void'

The show will include work by artists born in 1959, including Markus Baenziger, Sharon Butler, Elisabeth Condon, Dionisio Cortes, Catherine Howe, Dion Kliner, Robert Lansden, Xanda McCagg, Joseph Salerno, Mary Schiliro, Jane Swavely and Amy Yoes.

DUMBO Open Studios
Two Coats HQ
55 Washington Street, #454
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Saturday and Sunday, April 27 & 28, 1-6pm

On Saturday from 4-7 pm, there will be a little reception with a big disgusting birthday sheet cake, because, you know, 60.

Recent feature from Northern Woodlands Magazine:

“….art is born out of life and life is a mystery, an ongoing transformation.“
-Antonio Lopez Garcia
Spanish painter 1936-


Joseph Salerno records the passage of time with a palpable devotion. His multiple series of paintings are entitled “Woods Edge”; they depict seasonal and diurnal changes at the margin of the woods in an often haunting manner. The four pieces shown here are a tiny selection from hundreds that Salerno has painted over the years of the woods near his Johnson, VT home. The oil studies are most powerful when seen together as they form an ongoing meditation on the shifting character of familiar woodlands.

Salerno’s work is a record of his experience outdoors and his commitment to direct observation. But his work is the antithesis of illustration. It is not showing us what the woods look like- but rather what the woods feel like in the time space continuum. How do these small paintings transmit the silence and gravity of the forest so well? One gets the feeling from each piece that the day is in the process of getting darker or lighter, and that every moment is dramatically different than the next.

Compositionally, the majority of paintings in the “Woods Edge” series have two foreground tree trunks. These strong vertical elements form a doorway- a liminal passage- to the dark forest beyond. At times the invitation to pass through the portal is inviting, and at other times- a dare. The opposites of light and dark, abstraction and realism, foreground and background are provocative.
What lies beyond?

Joseph Salerno works out of his studio in Johnson Vermont and is on the Arts faculty at Northern Vermont University. An exhibition of his work will be at Alex’s Gallery, in Waterbury VT from February 26-April 11,2019.

He is represented by Furchgott-Sourdiffe Gallery in Shelburne, VT, Mitchell Giddings Fine Arts in Brattleboro, VT and the Ober Gallery in Kent CT.

He may be reached through his website: Josephsalernostudio.com




Adelaide Tyrol

Outdoor Palette
Spring 2019

Please join us for the opening reception of new paintings by Johnson, Vermont based artist Joseph Salerno. FOREST RECOLLECTION, a group of fifty paintings created over the past three years, allow a viewer to behold a subtle yet profound rumination on landscape and how the act of looking and creation weave and bob over time. Haunting, resonant Vermont forests, drenched in mist or glowing with ethereal light, wind an elegant trail through the gallery. Each piece adds a soft, unique voice to the observation of natural landscape, allowing a viewer to pull close to intricate details in an individual work while also regarding the series from a wider lens, absorbing landscape as a growing collection of facets and subtleties.

FOREST RECOLLECTION is an exhibition that wanders into memory with paint used as both a cloak and a window. Moving through these works calls to painting's ability to live on the edges of abstraction and representation, like watching a film set to slow motion or paused for a moment in soft focus. The resounding feeling is one of landscape as a place that relates to the outside world yet also exists in the depths of our most essential thoughts. Landscape painting becomes recalled space, a bridge between its place in the world and the place it lives in our minds. A reception for FOREST RECOLLECTION will be held Saturday, September 15 from 3pm-6pm with an artist talk at 4pm. The exhibition will be on view through October 28.


Ben Finer
--
Director
Aidron Duckworth Art Museum
21 Bean Rd.
Meriden, NH
603.469.3444

Woods Edge 2.3.18 has been selected by juror John Yau for inclusion in the 2018 Summer Juried Exhibition at
Blue Mountain Gallery
530 West 25th Street, New York, NY

July 10 - 28, 2018

Reception: Thursday, July 12, 5:00 - 8:00pm

www.bluemountaingallery.org

Upcoming Exhibition:

Woods Edge 11.18.16 has been selected by juror Betty Cunningham for inclusion in the
2018 Juried Exhibition at
Blue Mountain Gallery
530 West 25th St
New York, NY

January 2 - 27, 2018
Reception: Thursday January 4, 5 - 8pm

Current Exhibition:

Woods Edge 11.18.15 has been selected by juror John Stromberg, director of the Hood Museum of Art, for inclusion in
ArtsConnect at Catamount Arts
Catamount Arts Center
St Johnsbury, VT

December 2, 2017 - February 16, 2018

Recent Exhibition:

Connection: The Art of Coming Together
Vermont Arts Council Spotlight Gallery, Montpelier, VT

Joseph Salerno is the 2017 Avigdor Arikha Memorial International Residency Scholarship recipient at JSS in Civita Castellana, Italy

Woods Edge 10.13.16 has been selected by juror Kyle Staver for exhibition in the 2017 Bowery Gallery National Competition.

August 1-19, 2017
Reception 5-8pm, Thursday August 3

Bowery Gallery
530 West 25th St, 4th Floor,
New York, NY 10001

Woods Edge 9.15.16.2 has been selected by juror Stuart Shils for inclusion in the Ninth National Juried Exhibition at

Prince Street Gallery
530 West 25th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10001

The Opening Reception will be Saturday, July 15, 2017 from 3 - 6pm. The exhibition runs from Tuesday, July 11 through July 29. On Friday, July 14 at 6 pm, Stuart Shils will be giving a gallery talk.

Woods Edge

Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery
86 Falls Road, Shelburne, Vermont
April 14 - May 23, 2017

There will be an Artist Talk and Reception on Thursday, May 11 at 4:30pm.

Woods Edge
Vermont Studio Center Red Mill Gallery
80 Pearl Street
Johnson, Vermont

February 26 - March 19, 2017
Opening Reception: Wednesday March 1, 5 - 7:30pm

Recent Exhibition:

Being Present
Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery
Shelburne, VT
July 15 – September 13, 2016

Recent Exhibition

Dark Woods
Vermont Studio Center Gallery II
80 Pearl Street
Johnson, VT
January 16 -February 6, 2016
OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, Jan 21, 4-8pm

Review: SevenDays

Recent Exhibiton:

Woods Edge 11.5.14 has been selected as part of:

Strange Paradise
2015 National Juried Exhibition
juried and curated by Steven Harvey
First Street Gallery
526 W 26th Street, New York, NY
June 25 - July 18, 2015
Opening reception: June 27, 3-5pm

RECENT EXHIBITION:

Back to Nature
(with Karen Henderson, Jill Madden and Gowri Savoor)
Vermont Metro Gallery
at the BCA Center
135 Church Street
Burlington, VT
April 10 - June 21, 2015

Celebrate the beauty of the Vermont landscape through a collection of work that reinterprets our connection with place over time. By using a particular place as inspiration each artist is unveiling nature's ever changing beauty through the focused and repetitive study. Through this exploration we can witness the changing landscape and the artist’s changing point of view. Featuring work by Karen Henderson, Jill Madden, Joe Salerno, and Gowri Savoor.


Review: Seven Days

RECENT EXHIBITIONS:

Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery
Shelburne, VT
November 22, 2014 - January 30, 2015

Julie Heller East
465 Commercial Street
Provincetown, MA
August 1 - 14, 2014
Opening reception: Friday, August 1, 7 - 9pm

Hawthorne 2.16.12 was selected for inclusion in:

2014 National Juried Exhibition
Jed Perl, juror
First Street Gallery
526 W 26th Street, New York, NY
June 26 - July 19, 2014
Opening reception: June 28, 3-5pm

Summer Selections
Ober Gallery
Kent, CT

Stormy Weather
The S.P.A.C.E Gallery
Burlington, VT
March 1-30, 2013
Reception: Friday, March 1, 5-9pm
First Friday Art Walk

RIDGELINE
new paintings by Joseph Salerno

Julian Scott Memorial Gallery
Dibden Center for the Arts
Johnson State College
Johnson, VT

Review: ArtseenVT

January 16 - February 16, 2013
Artist Talk and Reception: Thursday, January 31 at 3pm

“When Things Fall Apart, the book by spiritual teacher Pema Chodron reflects the moment when a turning point, crisis, or challenge opens a person to a new way of thinking. A moment when we stop seeing things for what we think they are and starts seeing them slower, as they unfold in the present moment without judgment as they are.

Joseph Salerno’s new work investigates the landscape in brief moments as they unfold one panel at a time. These paintings are about getting to the point and stopping when it’s done. The moment of stopping emerges when the paint seems to lift into planes and layers of color. Each multi-panel painting becomes many things at once: a personal experience, a gesture, a moment, a landscape. And while everything changes in the course of observing the land day after day, hour after hour, moment after moment, one element endures: ridgeline. The title of this new body of work, “Ridgeline” becomes the heartbeat of these paintings pulling them together thematically just at the point where the sky meets the land.”

Leila Bandar
Director, Julian Scott Memorial Gallery

25th Annual Art at the Coach Barn
Shelburne Farms, VT
Oct 18 - November 4, 2012

In Our Nature
Erickson Fine Art at Comfort Farm
Stowe, VT
September 14 - October 14, 2012

Outside Art: Plein Air+
Oxbow Gallery
Northampton, MA
August 2 - September 2, 2012