Age is an asset when you are an artist: Six Over Sixty Five at Arts Unbound

ORANGE, N.J. - Sept. 22, 2015 - PRLog -- Contact Person: Celene Ryan, Director of Marketing
Arts Unbound
542/544 Freeman Street
Orange, NJ 07050
973-675-2787

cryan@artsunbound.org (mailto:mmikkelsen@artsunbound.org)

AGE IS AN ASSSET WHEN YOU ARE AN ARTIST : SIX OVER 65

ORANGE, NJ: Arts Unbound presents Six Over 65, an exhibition of six contemporary artists with flourishing careers beyond the conventional retirement age of 65. The featured artists include Ida Ballard (East Orange), Douglas Florian (Manhattan, NY), Helen Levin (Staten Island, NY), Ruth Marten (Manhattan, NY), Roger Ricco (Woodstock, NY), and Florence Wint (Maplewood). The show opens on Saturday, October 17, with a reception from 2pm to 5pm and runs through November 21, 2015.

Recent research shows that as we get older our brains become increasingly more capable at making novel associations from gathered information. Thus, as we grow in age, so does our aptitude for creativity and innovation. Add to this years of life experience cultivating wisdom and empathy, and you get artists in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, making work with exceptional skill and depth.

Ida Ballard began working in collage within the last five years. Her works are intimate in size and seamless in construction. She culls her images from popular glossy magazines to create intricate imagery that, recontextualized, becomes mysterious and personal.

Douglas Florian is both an artist and poet who is best known for writing and illustrating award-winning children’s books. Since 1985 he has also been exhibiting his abstract paintings and works on paper where he translates his interest in letterforms and rhythms into a visual dance of glyphs and color.

Helen Levin describes her recent paintings as “a love affair between the dynamics of pictorial space and contemporary architecture.” This is especially evident in her wall books, abstract paintings constructed like pop-up books that play with interior and exterior space, and narrative abstraction.

Ruth Marten first made her name as a tattoo artist in New York’s East Village in the 1970s. Her drawings are surreal, subversive, and always humorous. Using original 18th and 19th century prints as a starting point, she uses ink and gouache to weave in her own imagery making it difficult to discern where the original ends and her drawing begins in her critique of history and cultural norms.

Roger Ricco's photographs are steeped in Buddhist philosophy. He gathers objects from the wooded area just outside his studio in Woodstock, New York. and places them in theatrical still-lifes that he photographs and then manipulates in the computer. The results are painterly photographs that venerate nature's quiet drama.

Florence Wint writes that her “large fabric collages combine the bright colors and bold shapes of African fabric with the softer colors and motifs of decorative American household fabrics; alternately juxtaposing and merging the symbols and styles of the two cultures.” Her vast body of work also includes etchings, woodcuts and clay sculptures that host a menagerie of fantastical creatures.

Arts Unbound is dedicated to the artistic achievement of people living with disabilities and seniors. They provide visual arts education and professional development to help emerging artists compete on the retail market. By promoting the work of artists with disabilities and seniors, Arts Unbound centers their art-making rather than any impairments and by doing so challenges the stigma associated with disability and aging.

The gallery is located in the Valley Arts District at 544 Freeman Street, in Orange.  Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10am-4pm, Saturdays noon-5pm, and by appointment. www.artsunbound.org  (Arts Unbound – 973-675-2787).