Current Exhibition

In the Company of Women
Laura Gaffke • Kathy Johnson • Diana Sartor• Annie Wildey

Opening Reception - May 3, 5-8pm

An Afternoon with the Artists - Saturday 11th, 4pm

Please join the artists for a casual gathering to enjoy the exhibition and learn more about their creative practices. Light refreshments will be served.

Scroll down page to view artworks

About the Exhibition

AiR is please to present its 12th exhibition which opens on Friday May 3rd during Westerly’s First Friday Arts Crawl.

This month’s exhibition celebrates friendship and community, showcasing the work of four women artists with diverse creative practices. When four creative women decided to meet regularly to support and nurture one another’s creativity, they had no idea they would still be meeting 13 years later.

For Laura Gaffke art is an inward journey to a place of discovery, growth, and stillness. Her creative practice is present in all areas of her life. Quiet moments in her garden and at the beach observing, listening, sketching, connects her to the energy and joy of life. Nature and travel informs her work. It is these experiences, as well as her natural ability to focus on joyful moments that her vibrant color palette emerged. Whether working intuitively with acrylics or watercolor she aims to engage viewers and make meaningful connections by sharing soulful moments in her life. Laura’s creative practice extends to teaching, writing and the collaborative project ‘Laura Two Tina’ - This project reinforces how connections deeply affect her creative work and life.

Kathy Johnson, is an artist, and educator with a passion for plants, paper, rusty metal, and creating a second life for discarded materials by repurposing them into her art. Curiosity and experimentation are the guiding forces behind her art practice. She explores the natural processes of eco-printing and rust-printing to create the many papers and textiles used in her mixed media work and handmade books. The unpredictable nature of these techniques presents both challenges and moments of excitement. While they may dictate Her color palette and require a release of creative control, they also invite unexpected results to unfold. Embracing this combination of intention and serendipity leads her on a continual path of discovery in which to explore new work.

Kathy will also lead a mini speed collage workshop to Celebrate World Collage Day on Saturday May 11 at 2.30-3.30pm. Register here.

Diana Sartor a mixed media artist enjoys the journey of twists and turns her creative process leads her, as she explores techniques and materials leading to new ideas and fresh results. We know her for her bold color and sensuous oil and cold wax paintings, or acrylic and hand painted collage papers. In this exhibition we are treated to some of her new work . Sculptural pieces using the technique known as Joomchi. These works have a more delicate palette dictated by the paper, combined with twigs and sticks. Joomchi is a traditional Korean way of making textured handmade paper forms using mulberry paper. The technique creates strong, textural, and painterly surfaces by layering and agitating the paper. We are excited to see more of these pieces..

Painter and printmaker Annie Wildey explores moments of beauty, wonder and awe in the coastal landscape. She interprets the landscape and ocean through a fluid process of moving between freedom and control, accident and intention, pushing and pulling paint around to translate a subject in motion. The results are evocative and moving paintings.

To purchase artwork please email us and we will arrange for online purchase, and shipping or you can visit the gallery to view in person.