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Carlton Gallery Hosts 32nd Spring Group Exhibition with ‘Energetic Expressions by Egi and Edie’ Saturday, May 24

May 19, 2014. Carlton Gallery begins the season with its 32nd Spring Group Exhibition on Saturday, May 24 from 2-5 p.m. Toni Carlton invites everyone to attend the Spring Group Exhibition with Artists’ Reception where some of the gallery artists will be present to meet visitors and patrons. The Spring Group Exhibition also includes “Energetic Expressions by Egi and Edie,” a collection of landscape and abstract paintings by Egi Antonaccio and Edie Maney. Light refreshments will be served and this exhibition is free.

A great love of color and the inspiration from nature are the outstanding qualities one observes while viewing paintings by Egidio Antonaccio. Born in Castelluccio, Italy, “Egi” as he is known grew up with the strong influence of great Italian master painters. His artistic talent was recognized and encouraged at an early age. He learned a degree from the Institute of Fine Art in Castrovillan, Italy and the Academy of Fine Arts with Honors in Florence, Italy.

Antonaccio made the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina his home in 1981 and later studied under American master landscapist Edward Szmyd in Blowing Rock who also recognized Antonaccio’s superior talent. His realistic oil painting of mountain sunlit valleys and shadowy hillsides, paths filled with flowering shrubs and azaleas, woodland waterfalls with native rhododendron and dogwood, pastoral farm scenes complete with barn and cows to a softly rendered Grandfather Mountain are testament to his ingenious imagination and exception talent. For the “Energetic Expressions” exhibition, Antonaccio is working in acrylic and renders abstract landscapes in bright, strong colors using larger, more courageous strokes. In lieu of brushes, he applies the acrylic paint with nonconventional techniques along with palette knives.

Born in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Maney earned her BA in social work from the University of Georgia. She later began her art education by attending various institutions and workshops. An Abstract Expressionist, Maney’s work is mostly non-0bjective but a discrete figure may emerge. Painting on canvas, wood and paper, this exhibition of work is canvas and displays both non-objective and abstract figures. Canvas on canvas is a favorite manner where Maney incorporates cuttings of canvas cemented to the stretched canvas and heavy gel medium is applied for texture. The viewer will see both bold and subdued elements in this body of work.

In Maney’s Artist Statement she said, “Color intoxicates me. It’s spontaneous. There is no resisting the call of paint to canvas. I feel free. I meditate. I explore. For me, it is color that stimulates a conversation between tone and texture, between motion and shape. Four, five, six layers emerge – and a focal point is revealed. Credit cards. Squeegees. Fingertips, There are endless possibilities for moving paint. I am drawn to cloth, wood and paper. Redefining chaos with acrylic, gel, brushes and palette knives; introducing torn pieces of canvas: this is my process. As an Abstract Expressionist, my preferred style of painting is non-objective. It is not my intention to paint figures. However, occasionally an abstract shape will manifest itself and become meaningful. Each day renews my belief in the power of color.”

The Spring Group Exhibition showcases the art of the gallery’s many local, regional and national artists with a majority educated in-depth in art by traveling or education along with a few emerging artists whose creativity results in beautifully inspired canvases. From abstract to realistic to still life, Carlton Gallery exhibits many styles and displays it to such perfection that the walls sing.

The Art that one can select and place in one’s environment to enjoy is extensively diverse. The various mediums that art collectors can choose are oils, acrylics, mixed media, pastel, water color pencil/ink, glass, wood, metal, fiber, clay, sculpture and fine jewelry.

Landscape paintings by Kevin Beck, Connie Winters, Andrew Braitman, Sharon Rusch Shaver, Roy Nichols, Jane Desonier, Linda Apriletti, Holly Glasscock and Ray Byram fill the gallery with the beauty and color of local/regional scenes and vistas. The artists pull the viewers to the canvas with their technique of palette knife and brushstrokes.

Mix media paintings by Toni Carlton, Vae Hamilton, Mike Ham, Martha Olson, Jude Lobe, Marion Cloaninger and Debbie Arnold express their thoughts by creating surfaces using texture, calligraphy and color along with materials such as fiber, metals and enamel. The surfaces are manipulated with such articulate technique by using different materials to define the interpretations of their work.

Contemporary cityscape paintings by Gina Strumpf; Figurative by Warren Dennis; Watercolor/Pen and Ink by new artist Alan Gordon; Water Colors by Freeman Beard depict subject matter such as streams, barns, waterfalls, covered bridges and wildlife; Pen/Ink birds of prey by Brian Carney along with Charcoal Figures by Irmaly Brackin are thought provoking and imaginative. These artists use the line as their preference to capture images on paper and canvas. The sublety of the placement of their lines create the volume on paper and details of the drawings capture nature’s creation and human emotional awareness.

Still Life Paintings by Mary Dobbin, Mary Martha McKinley and Helen Farson are exquisitely rendered with great attention to the composition and the detail of reflections. The brushstrokes create an atmospheric field throughout the painting. The viewer is guided by elements in the composition leading one outside the frame.

Celebrate the season and visit Carlton Gallery on Saturday, May 24 from 2-5 p.m. for the Spring Group Exhibition and “Energetic Expressions by Egi and Edie” which runs through July 15. The gallery is located 10 miles south of Boone and 7 miles north of Linville on N.C. 105 in the Grandfather Mountain community. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

For additional information on artists, exhibitions or workshops, call 828-963-4288 or visit www.CarltonGallery.com.

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Egi Antonaccio  - Spring Brilliance -050

Edie Maney - Verde Envelopment - 24x24