BRATTLEBORO-"May Day!" an exhibit of artwork by Kay Curtis, is on display through Tuesday, June 3, at the Harmony Collective Artist Gallery on Elliot Street.
Curtis says she has known herself as being an artist since childhood. "A lifetime is a long time to spend playing and growing through art making. I am incredibly blessed in my life that I have been able to love what I do and do what I love."
She invented a version of gouache and India ink resist paintings, following years of block printing, and used the similar technique of focusing on the negative space, she says in her artist statement on the Collective's website. Her paintings are "large and bold and inhabited by a cast of whimsical figures," she says.
Certain motifs have followed her throughout her career as an artist.
"I can trace versions of the story of God promising Noah he will not destroy the world by sending a dove with a leaf, from college drawings through today," said Curtis. "With global warming concerns, this image has taken on a new meaning."
Curtis creates original designs used in block-printed cards, soft sculpture mobiles, and paintings. She also creates dry point monoprints.
In "May Day!" she has brought together 35 works big and small, all celebrating the parade, the march, a unification of people to support a cause, a celebration, a history.
Many of the works are inspired by the 15- by 60-foot mural depicting the history of Lebanon, New Hampshire, painted last summer. The mural, titled, True Colors, includes portraits of characters throughout the artist's 50-plus years of making art; namely, farmers, hippies, musicians, early settlers, opera houses, and even an airplane, all in procession from then to now.
In "May Day!" viewers discover images inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry - an embroidered cloth that depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 - all the way through Brattleboro's Hands Off Demonstration on April 5 of this year.
In "May Day!" Curtis uses pen and ink, gouache and India ink resist, dry point monoprints and Posca acrylic markers to explore the ways in which to tell the story.
The artist has intentionally included prints and smaller works to accommodate all budget and space constraints. There will also be a promenade of sock monkeys handmade from repurposed materials to amuse the child in everyone.
The Harmony Collective is 0pen daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Learn more at HarmonyArtsBrattleboro.com,
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.