By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
The Anne Reid ‘72 Art Gallery in Princeton Day School will be kicking off 2012 with “Say It With Flowers,” a new exhibition spotlighting paintings from Princeton Day School 2001 alum Lily Stockman.
The exhibition, which will open Jan. 9 and run through Feb. 2, will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the weekdays when school is in session and by appointment on the weekends.
Viewers can expect to see Ms. Stockman’s abstract twist on botanical art and flower pressing in 19th America and Britain mixed with present day locavore blogs and digital pictures of flowers in rooftop gardens in urban areas.
The Anne Reid ‘72 Art Gallery Director Jody Erdman said this particular theme is abstract and incorporates Ms. Stockman’s love of nature in previous generations to what interests her on the Internet.
”She connects it to her contemporary uses of technology and is very involved,” Ms. Erdman said. “There’s painterly abstraction, but it still has a very clear, deep connection to the natural world.”
This exhibition will be the first time these particular paintings will be publicly displayed.
”Lily is a very proficient artist and is very quick to come up with wonderful themes around her paintings,” Ms. Erdman said. “But this is more on a larger scale than what she has often exhibited before. This theme is a new theme.”
Susan Reichlin, Ms. Stockman’s art teacher at Princeton Day School, said that viewers shouldn’t expect to walk in and see very realistic paintings. She described them as being very flattened and similar to Milton Avery, an American modern painter.
”You can recognize them being real, but she doesn’t reproduce it line for line,” Ms. Reichlin said. “They aren’t completely abstract. You definitely know what the stimulus was in the shapes and lines and colors.”
Ms. Reichlin particularly admired Ms. Stockman’s use of lines, adding that they are graceful and remind her of Thomas Hart Benton, an early American painter.
The gallery has eight exhibitions a year and artists are chosen after considerable evaluation of their resumes and digital images of their artwork.
We decide which ones would be meaningful to the school and community at large,” Ms. Erdman said. “Lily was chosen because her work demonstrates proficiency in painting.” She added that it was exciting for their gallery to feature a dynamic, young artist.
Princeton Day School is looking forward to having Ms. Stockman reenter its doors as a successful up and coming artist.
”She is an artist to watch in the future. It’s exciting to have her at Princeton Day School in the early stages of her career,” Ms. Reichlin said. “It should be a great opening and I’m so eager to see her.”
For those who would like the opportunity to meet Ms. Stockman, Princeton Day School will be holding an artist’s reception Jan. 14 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Ms. Erdman encouraged everyone to come out and enjoy Ms. Stockman’s work.
”The Anne Reid Gallery is free and open to the public and we encourage everyone to come whenever it’s open,” Ms. Erdman said. “We always want everyone to come and be welcome.”
