Weaving Meaning:
Works by Arlene Baker and Ralph Caparulo
“THE SUBLIME AND MYTHOLOGICAL WONDERS, ALL IN ONE PLACE”
Gallery exhibits new work by two artists who incorporate textiles in unconventional
ways”
“WEAVING MEANING: Works by Arlene Baker and Ralph Caparulo”
at the Albany Center Gallery begins August 28 and closes October 6. Both
artists will attend the opening reception September 7 from 5:00pm to 9:00pm
in the gallery, and an artist talk will be held on October 5 from 7 p.m.
to 8 p.m. at the gallery. The gallery will be filled with over 40 new images
from both of these regionally based artists.
Currently a resident of Schenectady, NY, Arlene Baker was born and raised
in New York City, and soon became a successful international artist. Her
studies include attending such universities as Minnesota and Iowa, receiving
her B.A., M.A., and M.F.A. Ms. Baker's post-graduate studies include attending
the Sir Jon Cass School of Art and the Morley School of Art, both of which
are located in London. Arlene Baker's art can be described as "Rothko-like"
with a life of their own. Her “silk series” paintings explore
horizons, color and veils. Baker literally veils her paintings, layering
surfaces with diaphanous material, “painting” them with silk.
Although Baker’s work is sometimes classified as “fiber art,”
she believes that this is merely a description of the materials that she
uses, not of her aesthetic. Baker finds that the softness of the silk leads
her to a sense of the “sublime,” which the philosopher Kant
characterizes as a sense of boundlessness, the transcendence to be found
in a formless object, like a horizon. Baker’s work are part of the
collection at the Manufacturer’s Bank in Detroit, The University of
Iowa and well as numerous private collections.
Ralph Caparulo moved in the summer of 1996 with his wife, Nancy, from their
New Jersey home of 15 years to a 200 year-old farmhouse in Galway, NY. Originally
from New Haven, Connecticut, Ralph Caparulo graduated from Silvermine College
of Art (AD), the University of Hartford Art School (BFA), and the University
of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Art (MFA). Caparulo is presently
a member of the faculty of the Schenectady County Community College. Using
leather, found objects or fabricated elements together with strong influence
of Japanese design principles, Caparulo’s work is at once enigmatic
and orderly, primitive yet polished, timeless and often whimsical. He draws
on a considerable knowledge of meso-American, Egyptian, Norse and Japanese
folklore and mythology for inspiration. These cultural sites have captivated
and continue to fascinate him and are the focus for much of his continuous
study. Widely shown in juried and invitational venues across the US and
Canada, Mr. Caparulo’s art is found in permanent collections of several
museums in New Jersey (the Noyes and Bergen) and Pennsylvania (The Pennsylvania
Academy of the Fine Arts) and, more locally, the Hyde Collection in Glens
Falls. He has a coveted (by sculptors) membership in the North American
Sculpture Center in Golden, Colorado, and has won numerous awards and fellowships
for his creativity and accomplishments.
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