Warner Gallery Fall Exhibit: Relinquish

The Warner Gallery opened its latest show, Relinquish, on Friday, presenting work from renowned local and international artists. The impressive lineup includes Khara Gilvey, Kerry Downey, Ted Dixon, Adrianna Ault, and Sophie Eisner.

Gallery Director Lindsay Peyton drew from her strong ties to the Hudson Valley art scene to build a diverse exhibit that explores the idea of connectivity—an idea that began forming when Lindsay met with Kingston-based Khara Gilvey, whose figurative oil paintings are featured in Relinquish.

“Gilvey's use of the figure was intriguing to me, as well as their soft color palette,” Lindsay explains. “We spoke about their interest in relationships between people, how we hold onto each other. That's when the theme started to take shape to me—I wanted to focus on ‘holding,’ what that means—and also what it means to let go, or relinquish.”

Fittingly, Gilvey’s oil paintings often relinquish some of the artist’s control over the medium by incorporating the grain of the wood on which they’re painted.

The show also includes mixed-medium-on-paper pieces by Kerry Downey, another of Lindsay’s Kingston connections. A recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant and New York State Council on the Arts Grant, Downey has exhibited at prestigious institutions such as the Hessel Museum, Queens Museum, and Leslie Lohman Museum of Art.

In addition to working with her local network of artists, Lindsay drew from recent exhibits that have inspired her. Ted Dixon is an abstract Hudson Valley painter Lindsay has exhibited with before. His paintings guide viewers to let go of narrow-minded interpretations and instead join a conversation about the work. Likewise, Adrianna Ault’s exhibits at the Center for Photography (CPW) grasped Lindsay’s attention and fit perfectly into Relinquish with their imagery of levees holding together the city of New Orleans, along with cold plunges in local rivers invoking the idea of letting go.

Finally, the exhibit includes three incredible sculptures by Sophie Eisner. “I wanted to include sculpture to really activate the gallery space and turned to Sophie Eisner, who has exhibited often in Kingston in the past couple of years,” said Lindsay. “Her work is especially fascinating, because she incorporates so many different media, including steel, silicone, concrete, wood, fabric, and bronze.”

Relinquish provides the Millbrook community with an incredible opportunity. While students do regularly take trips to galleries in nearby New York City, they don’t have to leave campus to find world-class artistic inspiration. They can enjoy the unique experience of popping into the Warner Gallery to view internationally exhibited art between classes or more immersive moments with the artwork during free time. This is just one of the reasons Millbrook artists regularly win awards for their work. Here are a few examples:

 

 

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