Imagine walking through a hallway of floor to ceiling watercolors, created to make you think a little more about the world around you. That is exactly what you can do at the Green Street Arts Center starting in June.
During the month of June, we will be exhibiting the oversized watercolors of Michelle Podgorski, an artist originally from Rocky Hill, CT but now residing in North Carolina. This is a photo of a detail of one of these giant watercolors entitled Weeds, but quite honestly this isolated “slice” of her work really does not pay justice to the power of these large scale studies of the natural world (some are over six feet tall)– nor to her deep appreciation for the perseverance of nature despite the destructive forces levied in the name of human “progress.”
Podgorski begins her artist’s statement– “Every day I drive past a tree that has been carved and sliced to make way for a power line. Its branches no longer grow on its left side. And every day I stare out my car window fascinated that it continues to grow as if it ever had a right side.” In keeping with the Green Street Arts Center’s overarching theme of art and science, Podgorski says that her “paintings focus on the natural cycle of death and growth, adaptation and sustainability that is constantly occurring in the natural world despite our interference and– sometimes because of it”. But even more moving than these enormous masterfully crafted illustrations of the natural subjects she so admires, is Podgorski’s more subtle, more poetic presentation of expansive areas of pure, white nothingness that she includes. It is these large stunning areas of quiet, negative space that coerce the viewer to reflect on the environmental destruction and loss of which she speaks.
On Thursday, June 5th, from 5-8:00 p.m. (in conjunction with Middletown’s Gallery Walk series) there will be an opening reception for Michelle Podgorski’s exhibit, Fragmented Landscape. Her watercolors will remain on display at Green Street from June 5th through June 26th during regular business hours (M-F 9a.m.-5p.m.) Podgorski’s exhibit will also be viewable during Green Street’s Open House festivities on Saturday, June 14th from 12-4:00p.m.
Additionally, Michelle will present a talk on her work on Friday, June 6th at 12:15p.m. The public should call 860-685-7871 to register for this free lunch time presentation by the artist.