Associated Artists holds ‘Other Six’ exhibit

VILLAGE OF MANLIUS – Associated Artists of CNY is holding an exhibit called “The Other Six” until the end of the month. The show, which has been up since May 4, is being featured throughout the gallery the group administers and sponsors inside Manlius Library at 1 Arkie Albanese Ave.

Through Saturday, June 1, the artwork will be viewable during the regular library hours.

The showcase is for the regional artist group’s 2023 juried exhibit award recipients aside from the “Best in Show” winner, which was the late DeWitt resident Barbara Vural, who had her own solo library gallery show this winter that was up at the time of her passing as well as a posthumous display at Edgewood Gallery.

The group’s “The Other Six” exhibit began with a free and open-to-the-public “Meet the Artists” reception in the library’s community room complete with refreshments that went from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 5.

The works were made by Merit Award winners Maxine Edwards and Marcia G. Ferber as well as Honorable Mention recipients Lesley Brooks, Sandra Chai, Karen Kozicki and Ute Oestreicher to round out the list of six exhibitors. The styles of the pieces ranged from oil painting, acrylics and watercolor to enamel, pencil/ink and photography, with some but not all available for sale.

“This is nice because this is something we’ve never done before,” Kozicki, the president of Associated Artists of CNY, said. “We always have the ‘Best of Show’ show, so we thought how about the rest of the winners? That’s why we call it ‘The Other Six.’”

Kozicki’s pieces included a black-and-white photo on warmtone paper called “Silver Reflection,” which shows a slightly distorted mirror image produced by silver panels next to an elevator at Destiny USA, and a photo on textured paper called “The Face in the Parking Lot.”

Edwards’ spotlighted oil-on-canvas works included a close-up on the eye of a horse she loves named “Martha,” one of a rancher in a coat with a cowboy hat hiding his face called “The Yellow Slicker,” one called “Cloud 9” depicting a cocktail bar that looks like it could be just down the street from the Phillies diner that appears in Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” painting, and one of hers showing a galloping horse titled “Desert Run.”

Timely enough for Edwards and her subject matter, the reception for the art show came the day after this year’s Kentucky Derby. Though she has never ridden one, Edwards said she has always admired horses for their beauty and grace and the love they reciprocate.

“I’ve always appreciated them,” she said. “I paint them like mad all the time, but I don’t ride them.”

Ferber’s pieces included a fused enamel work of the shining sun over what looks to be a mountain range called “No Spiders Napping Here,” a jewelry case prominently presenting a pendant in the middle, and a combination of fused enamel, art glass, geodes and agate called “Even Spiders Can Dance.”

Other works included an acrylic on canvas by Chai that suits its title, “Onondaga County Farm in Snowstorm,” a pastel drawing of white roses appropriately called “Les Roses Blanche” by Brooks, and a watercolor of a forested area by Oestreicher called “Light and Shadow.”

Going back to 1983, the juried show has traditionally been held every September, making last year’s the 40th anniversary of that exhibit that gets evaluated by an independent judge based on particular criteria and their discretion.

Encouraged to submit their very best, the artists were limited to either three small works, two medium works or one large work, and the works chosen for display had to have been completed within the prior two years and never before shown in the Associated Artists group’s covered territory comprising Onondaga, Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Oneida, Oswego and Tompkins counties.

The Central New York group usually meets the third Saturday of each month, with the majority of the gatherings held in the Manlius Library community room. For those monthly meetings, lecturers and demonstrators are often brought in to provide guidance and present about different art forms.