The Chromatic Countryside

Ivor Parry, Amy Pressman, Ingrid Raab, Abbie Steiner, and Smitha Piedilato

Opening Reception July 25, 2-4pm

Show dates: July 23 - Aug 16

This exhibition that explores the vibrant, texture-rich, and deeply personal ways we connect to the natural world. Bringing together five artists from various backgrounds, this show presents the many ways the natural world is translated in art. Whether through material, subject, or muse, these artists invite you to experience the land not just as a view, but as a living, breathing history painted in brilliant color and form.

Ingrid Raab: Inspired by the geology of the Berkshires and the Maine coast, my work seeks to capture the silent, powerful presence of stones shaped by time and the elements. I utilize clay slabs to create hollow-forms, which express a sense of weight and history while remaining physically light and contained. To capture the organic "veining" of mineral deposits, I utilize saggar firing in my electric kiln. By nestling the clay vessels within a secondary container filled with hay and metal oxides, the kiln’s heat creates a localized atmosphere. The combustion "paints" the surface with unpredictable, carbon-infused traces that mirror the natural aging of sediment layers.

Abbie Steiner: I work both from observation and imagination, drawing from what I see in the natural world along with what then arises internally. These recent paintings explore relationships between people and the world they inhabit. My subject matter includes the trees, birds, gravity, weather, and energetic fields within and around us.

Ivor Parry: Cigar Boxes, began after seeing a Diebenkorn Show with a single box exhibited and painted in his Ocean Park landscape style.

My "Cigar Boxes", are painted in oil and acrylic.
Planned as wall hangings, they have also found a home on table — Ivor Parry: Cigar Boxes, began after seeing a Diebenkorn Show with a single box exhibited and painted in his Ocean Park landscape style. My "Cigar Boxes", are painted in oil and acrylic. Planned as wall hangings, they have also found a home on tables for those "specials".

Smitha Piedilato: My work begins with time spent observing plants growing around me, particularly native and naturalized species in the Northeast. I'm drawn to plants that are familiar, resilient, and deeply tied to their environments — the ones that thrive at roadsides and field edges, in meadows and woodland margins, often overlooked precisely because they are so common. I'm interested in their structure as much as their symbolism: the intricate geometry of flower heads, the upright rhythms of seed stalks, the way light moves through leaves and petals at different times of year. Pattern plays a central role in my practice. I draw directly from the block print patterns of my South Indian heritage, using repetition and decorative structure as a way to interpret the natural rhythms I see in plants. These patterns allow me to bridge cultural memory with close observation, connecting my personal history to the landscape I live in now.

Amy Pressman: My media is primarily Encaustic with cold wax. The inspiration is the environment that I am interacting with. Color and texture are foremost in the work. Some are inspired by the woods and plants of the Berkshires, some are the places I travel to. The work can be called abstracted landscapes.