Month: May 2014

May 10, 2014
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Art from Within
May 10 – June 21, 2014
Woodward Gallery

The Estate of Sybil Gibson is represented by Woodward Gallery. The exhibition Sybil Gibson: Art From Within incorporates never- before- seen works. Gibson’s enduring legacy is preserved in museums throughout the country with great examples of naive portraits, gentle landscapes, colorful floral arrangements and the passionate soul of this eccentric personality.


Sybil Gibson (February 18, 1908 – January 2, 1995) was born in Dora, Alabama to a wealthy coal mine operator and farm owner; despite her prosperous upbringing she spent most of her adult life in poverty. Now in 2014, Gibson is regarded as one of the leading female folk artists from Alabama.


Gibson gave into her impulse to draw, paint and record later in life after working as an educator. Making due with little means, Gibson often expressed that art had to come from within.
She recorded her childhood memories knowing that each viewer could relate. Her soulful, mesmerizing works speak for themselves and reach out to touch the viewer’s consciousness. Gibson used brown bags, scraps of paper, newsprint, and cardboard. She would wet and flatten the surface of these papers to prepare for her original watercolor/gouache/ tempera technique. As she waited for the paper and paint to dry on one painting, Gibson would satiate her spontaneous expression on additional surfaces: “I just go from one brushstroke to another and I do it fast…as soon as the idea comes I use it real quick,” she would say.


Sybil Gibson, seized by a compulsion to paint over three decades, grew out of touch from family and friends. She sought escape from daily realities and responsibilities with a pure commitment to her art: “Painting is my happiness.”


Sybil Gibson’s art is featured in permanent collections such as: The Museum of Art, Alabama; The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Alabama; The Miami Museum of Modern Art, Florida; The New Orleans Museum of Art in Louisiana; The Museum of American Folk Art, New York; The Brooklyn Museum, New York, and The New State Historical Society.

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May 3, 2014

Butterflies and Blossoms
May 3 – June 22, 2014
Friends of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve
125 Phelps Way, Pleasantville, NY

The Art Gallery at the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, in collaboration with the Valerie Goodman Gallery, has the privilege of presenting a unique exhibition, Butterflies and Blossoms, combining Korean artist Yun-Mo Ahn’s** travelled exhibition of images created by persons challenged by autism, with paintings by established artists Margaret Morrison*, Ivan Pazlamatchev, and the French artist Jacques Jarrige*, all who share a respect for the creativity of people outside the mainstream. As visual communicators, the artists hope to demonstrate that art can help to overcome the obstacles of autism and mental illness. Curated by Audrey Leeds and Valerie Goodman.


The exhibition will be on view May 3-June 22, 2014, daily hours (9:30-4:30 p.m.) The Friends of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve will include the exhibit at an annual benefit on May 16th, celebrating the blooming of the Preserve’s historic Peony Garden. The “Artists’ Open House” will be held on May 17th, 1-4 p.m.


Dramatic floral portraits by Margaret Morrison are complemented by Pazlamatchev’s delicate butterfly art and Yun-Mo Ahn’s naïve paintings and sculptures that embrace the theme. Throughout the installation, a profusion of Butterfly images are displayed, having been created with the guidance of Ahn who has shared his artistic expertise by nurturing the children’s uninhibited creative energies while attending tutorials made possible by the McCarton School and Foundation, educational divisions of the Museum of Modern Art, the Queens’ Museum and local schools within the tri-state of New York. A “Become a Butterfly” program developed in Korea, and in France by artist Jarigge, has now been adopted in New York. Henceforth, Butterfly collections will embark upon world-wide travel sending messages of collective hope and awareness to the psychology of healing through the “Butterfly Effect” of visual expression.


The exhibition is made possible by the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, the Woodward Gallery, the Valerie Goodman Gallery and the McCarton Foundation.


The Gallery is located at 125 Phelps Way (Route117), Pleasantville, New York 10570. It is open daily from 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. The preserve is one of 15 state parks, administered by New York State Office of Park, Recreation and Historic Preservation.


For more information and to support Friends of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve visit friendsrock.org