Sarah Beth Goncarova and Thomas Edwards at Gallery 195

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven presents an exhibition of works by artists Sarah Beth Goncarova and Thomas Edwards at First Niagara Bank, 195 Church St., 4th floor, in New Haven.

The exhibition will be on display during bank hours from September 18, 2012 through December 14, 2012 (Mon-Wed 9-4, Thurs-Fri 9-5).  An artists’ reception is scheduled for Tuesday, October 2nd, from 5 to 7 p.m. The public is invited to attend and meet the artists.

Goncarova works with acrylic paint, watercolors, sculpture/textiles, and collage. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture and extended media in 2002 and her Masters of Architecture in 2005.

For this exhibition, Goncarova will be showing intricate textile sculptures. In her artist’s statement, she describes them as “undulating forms that crash and collide,” and “sinuous shapes of light and shadow.” Along with the use of sewn textiles, she has applied countless tiny crystals, which she intends to catch the light and “wink at you from the corner of your eye.”

Goncarova has exhibited, among other places, in New Haven, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Brooklyn, Berkeley, and internationally in Norway and Germany. She also published a book, A Yearlong Summer, in 2010. You can see her work at goncarova.com.

Thomas Edwards was also trained as an architect while fostering his artistic career making paintings, drawings and prints. He received his Bachelors of Architecture degree from Kansas State University in 1971, then went on to get two Master of Fine Arts degrees, one from Kansas State University in 1978 and another fromYale University in 1983.

“Drawing, for me, covers a vast array of activities that in some ways are akin to breathing and in other ways akin to surgery,” explains Edwards in his artist’s statement. His works are layered, both conceptually and actually. He continues to explain in his statement that he uses simple landscapes in his paintings to describe universal experiences (a fence as an enclosure/limitation, a backyard as a trigger for childhood memories/a safe haven of play, or a prairie to represent unlimited space with earth, sky, and wind.

Edwards has exhibited across the United States and has work included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, and Library of Congress. His works can be seen at janehaslemgallery.com/Edwards.

For more information about this exhibition and Gallery 195 at First Niagara Bank, call the Arts Council at (203) 772-2788.

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, publisher of The Arts Paper, is a regional nonprofit arts agency that provides leadership to and advocates for member artists and arts organizations and connects them to one another, to audiences, and to the Greater New Haven community. Visit the Arts Council online at newhavenarts.org.