FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The West Milford Artists Association Gallery
1443 Union Valley Rd, West Milford , NJ
Ph: 973-728-1119, Hrs: Wed–Fri, 12-2 pm, Thurs, Fri 5-7 pm, Sat, Sun 10-4 pm

Suzanne Giovanetti, Michiko Rupnow and Lin Warren

April 9, 2005 - May 8, 2005
Artists’ Opening Reception: Saturday, April 9, 7pm - 9pm

The West Milford Artists Association is pleased to announce a group exhibition by Suzanne Giovanetti, Michiko Rupnow, and Lin Warren. This exhibit will be on display at WMAA Gallery, 1443 Union Valley road, in West Milford, New Jersey, from April 9 through May 8, 2005. An Artists’ Reception will be held on April 9, from 7 to 9 p.m.

Suzanne Giovanetti

Suzanne Giovanetti often finds herself drawn to the female figure as a subject for her paintings and drawings. As she incorporates contrasts of light into her pieces, Giovanetti reveals her admiration and understanding of the atmosphere created by her subject’s presence. Working in oil, she builds glazed layers, using one to subtly enhance the next.

She finds that exaggerated dimensions can also add interest to her composition, as demonstrated in Sleeping Nude, in which the horizontal crop accentuates the reclined posture of the subject. “With the sometimes harsh imagery we see of women, I wanted to bring back something with a more classic feeling. Something innocent and uncontrived.” Gathering Flowers was created for inclusion in a private collection, and explores the play of natural light and color.

Giovanetti is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. An award winning designer, she runs a graphic design business from her home in West Milford. She graces The West Milford Artist Association with her design sensibility having produced much of the promotional design art and content.

A founding member of the West Milford Artists Association, Giovanetti was a participant in the small works show for the grand opening of the WMAA Gallery.

Michiko Rupnow

A native of Japan and long time resident of New Jersey, Michiko Rupnow studied sculpture under Walt Swales at Montclair State University, creating figurative sculptures incorporating socio-cultural contents. Realizing the difficulty in finding an original style, she moved on to take graduate courses in architecture at NJIT, finding structural theories such as arches, suspension bridges, geodesic domes and cantilevers particularly interesting. With this architectural inspiration, she created the Unit and Archunit series.

Throughout the years, Rupnow moved back and forth between socio-culturally based sculptures and non-referential architectural construction. Her struggles combining these two interests were rewarded when she eliminated the figures and developed her Shelter series with a social content, winning the NJ State Council on the Arts Fellowship. Soon afterward, she went back to incorporating figurative drawings in her large scale Bed Spring Construction series.

Running out of studio space, she and her husband moved to West Milford and set up a new studio and her sculpture garden. With abundant outdoor space available in a natural setting, she is now creating aluminum arch structures combined with aluminum Flying Cloth, and anchoring these on top of dead tree trunks. The models exhibited in this exhibit are part of this Treetop series.

Michiko Rupnow is a member of The West Milford Artists Association.

Lin Warren

Lin Warren uses textural form and reflective surfaces to define rigorous contrast. Manipulation of material has always been her focus, taking the materials’ natural flexibility to their innate limits. “Surprise is my element. I need surprise while making art.”

After receiving a BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology, she furthered her major interest in printmaking at an aluminum plate lithography workshop given by Tamarind Institute in New Mexico. Her interest in making impressions, lead her to study ceramics at the De Jung Museum in San Francisco. She exhibited in a large sector of American galleries, won awards, and added to the collections of many art patrons, before taking a hiatus to raise children.

During the hiatus years, Warren still experimented with materials and applications of various techniques. “It’s amazing how strong the drive to create is. This force should never be ignored — only fostered for a better academic understanding.” The anticipated reemergence of her work has been long overdue.

The content of Warren’s work is complex, although the manipulation of the material may be very simplistic. Warren brings forth an elevated awareness of form delving deep into the nature of used materials. In Strips I, white lines bend through a repetition of the material’s flexibility.

Lin Warren is founder, President and Executive Director of The West Milford Artists Association. She is dedicated to establishing educationally inspirational resources for artists, her community and seeks to bring forth the power of creativity.

For further information contact the WMAA Office at 973-728-8812, or visit www.wmartists.org