Marcy Dunn Ramsey’s one-person exhibition – Playing on the Edge – opens at the Carla Massoni Gallery on Friday, May 13 and will remain on exhibit through June 18, 2016. Also featured, will be a new body of work – Just This – the aquatic plant series – by photographer Michael Kahn.
Marcy Dunn Ramsey’s “Polarized”
There will be numerous opportunities to meet with the artists during the exhibition including the Opening Reception and Collector’s Preview on Friday, May 13, from 5-8 pm, catered by Occasions Catering. On Saturday, May 14, Ramsey and Kahn will discuss their work and the process involved during the gallery tour and artist talk beginning at 12 Noon. Or simply plan to visit the gallery for Chestertown June First Friday, June 3, from 5-8 pm when the community Celebrates the Arts with a town-wide arts crawl. Please visit the Downtown Chestertown Association & Chestertown Arts & Entertainment District websites to learn of other activities scheduled during the exhibition. www.downtownchestertown.org www.townofchestertown.com
Each year I look forward to Marcy Dunn Ramsey’s annual show. For the last twenty-five years with each exhibition she’s brought me a new perspective on this river I call home. The Chester River is one of the great treasures of the Eastern Shore. Marcy has observed its gifts in all seasons and is a passionate advocate for its protection. She could rightly be called a landscape painter but her work defies simple descriptions. Her large-scale oil paintings are at once almost pure abstraction and yet one feels the wind and smells the richness of the marsh. From a distance the viewer is invited into a world of sky, water, and sea grass but when you take up residence in these paintings it is the color and calligraphic markings that captivate. The river may be her muse but it is a painter’s world you inhabit. Blues of every hue, greens that harken back to a prehistoric time, terracottas and rosy tones that saturate the canvas. Her mark making may be determined by the fluidity of her body but her vision is formulated in the depths of her soul. “Navigating the spaces where water and land intersect has always offered a wealth of inspiration. It’s a risky place. You can fall in very easily.” Marcy Dunn Ramsey
Michael Kahn’s milieu is also the water. Stephen Perloff, Editor of The Photo Review, wrote of his work, “…Kahn has crafted a unique and personal vision of the relationship of sea, shore, and sailing vessel. There is a balance and harmony between the formal elements of his pictures….a heartfelt love of land and water that allows us to experience not only his feelings for this environment but our own.” In his new body of work – Just This – the aquatic plant series – he moves to the shore and the marshes to capture light, lines and reflection. When viewed together with Ramsey’s paintings, Kahn’s photographs seem like quicksilver ghosts of their shared vision.
Join us for the Grand Opening of – CREATE art.craft.design – a new contemporary American craft gallery at 113 South Cross Street on Friday, May 13, at 4 pm and then plan to join us to celebrate the ARTS IN CHESTERTOWN at the gallery reception for Ramsey and Kahn. www.createartcraftdesign.com
Gallery hours during the exhibit are Thursday and Friday, 11am-4pm, Saturday, 10am-5pm, and Sunday, 11am-2 pm. The Gallery is always available to be open by private appointment or by chance.
For additional information please contact Carla Massoni – MASSONIART, 203 High Street, Chestertown, Maryland. 410-778- 7330 or visit our website for directions and links to other activities in Chestertown’s Arts & Entertainment District. www.massoniart.com
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.