By Shako Liu, The Register Citizen
TORRINGTON >> Five Points Gallery is opening a new art show Thursday, featuring artists Michael Donovan, Michael Quadland and Terry Donsen Feder. The opening reception will be Friday at 6 pm. An artist panel discussion is schedule for July 11 at 6 p.m.
Photo: A sculpture by Michael Donovan in the new art show at Five Points Gallery. Shako Liu — The Register Citizen
Together, the three artists brought in conceptual sculptures and paintings that it might be hard to tell what they are at first sight. Quadland grew up in Massachusetts and majored in art at Dartmouth. He had a PhD in psychology from New York University and a Master of Public Health from Yale. After his full blown career as a clinical psychologist, AIDS researcher and assistant professor of psychiatry at Mt. Sinai Medical School, he returned recently to painting. According to a release, Quadland focused on the expression of emotion, and “he uses a nonobjective format as a way to maximize imagination and projection, using abstract forms and evocative colors in layered surfaces.”
Donovan teaches three-dimensional design and sculpture at Southern Connecticut State University and Fairfield University. In his artist statement, he said his art explores the act of preservation. Donovan writes, “The work that is being performed within each structure implies permanently suspended movement. Each piece performs a designated task with no true purpose other than sustaining the level of energy generated within it.”
Feder will be the featured artist in the east gallery. She has designed and executed murals in Nevada, Nantucket, and in private homes and business in New England, including a forty-seven foot mural at Peppercorn’s in Hartford, according to the release.
The art show will end Aug. 2. Judith McElhone, executive director of Five Points Gallery, said they are always looking to pair artwork that have different disciplines, and artists in different areas. She said she hopes to bring different people to Torrington to see art from big cities.
“Art changes people’s lives. Art is not only for wealthy collectors,” McElhone said. “Blue-collar workers can also understand art and see art. We want Torrington to be revitalized. It’s the people that make the city. Art helps people understand themselves and the world better.”
