Lelia Stoke Weinstein, Earth Up in Smoke

Chaos & Order II

Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT
March 13 – April 21, 2017
Reception and panel discussion: March 19, 2017
Artists exhibiting: Katrina Abbott, Hollandra Berube, Debra Claffey, Angel Dean, Pamela Dorris Dejong, Heather Leigh Douglas, Soosen Dunholder, Helene Farrar, Dona Mara Freedman, Kay Hartung, Sue Katz, Susan Paladino, Stephanie Roberts-Camello, Ruth Sack, Dietlind Vander Schaaf, Donna Hamil Talman, Willa Vennema, Catherine Weber, Lelia Stokes Weinstein, Charyl Weissbach.

Chaos & Order is currently at the Creative Arts Workshop through April 21, 2017. Juried by Jennifer Gross, it is a show well worth going to, both for the art and the exhibition space. Natural light and interesting architecture add to a beautifully hung show that as one artist put it “leaves space between pieces so they can breathe.”

View from upper gallery

In this show, chaos and order exist side by side- some pieces give a sense of quiet order, while others have an exuberant sense of chaos. In some, both are evident, often in the title of the piece, inviting the viewer to explore the messiness of living.

Exploration of the encaustic process is highly evident in this show, whether in the delicate light dappled scroll of Donna Hamil Talman’s Unfolding in Time or Sue Katz’s Spring Roll with her skillful use of recycled objects. 

Donna Hamil Talman, Unfolding in Time

Both abstract and literal pieces give the viewer a chance to see the range of methods and styles that come from using wax, whether it is the 3D objects of Lelia Stokes Weinstein’s Earth up in Smoke, the curling wax of Stephanie Roberts-Camello’s The Machine or the collage of many text circles by Willa Vennema aptly titled The Circular Nature of Chaos and Order No. 3.

Sue Katz, Spring Roll

Stephanie Robert- Camello, The Machine

Willa Vennema, The Circular Nature of Chaos and Order No. 3

Chaos + Order II panel discussion  

The two floors of thought provoking encaustic art and natural light of the gallery space make this a pleasant visit and time well spent.

Not to be missed as well, is a display of the tools of the encaustic process along with information on what the art of working with wax is and how it is done. This is a very nice addition thanks to Ruth Sack who took the lead in planning and organizing the show.