Lee Ann Brown and Charles Stein

Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 2pm

The Gallery at R&F Handmade Paints
84 Ten Broeck Avenue
Kingston, NY 12401

A $5 donation is suggested.

For directions please visit R&F’s website at http://www.rfpaints.com/



Lee Ann Brown is the author of Polyverse and The Sleep That Changed Everything. She teaches poetry at St. John's University in New York City where she is active in poetry, and lives summers in Marshall, NC, outside of Asheville. A cycle of her song-poems is available at PENNSOUND, under the title "The 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time." She will be reading from new work, and singing some very old songs.

Charles Stein is the author of many books of poetry including The Hat Rack Tree from Station Hill Press. His most recent publication is a new verse translation of The Odyssey from North Atlantic Books. He also recently co-authored, with George Quasha, An Art of Limina / Gary Hill (Ediciones Poligrafa).

In the Gallery at R&F:

An encaustic installation by Mimi Czajka Graminski, from April 4th - May 30th, 2009

Mimi Czajka Graminski is known for creating large-scale, delicate installations and sculptures out of translucent materials, such as mesh, tissue and paper. For her installation at the Gallery at R&F, the artist decided to strip away the translucent veil in order to get down to the bare essentials. The Spaces Between is a project composed of small wax dots applied directly to the gallery wall in order to highlight points in space. Like stars, cells, atomic particles and birds flying in formation, these points are defined by the spaces between them, which delineate and give meaning to the images they represent.

The artists’ inspiration comes from nature, the female form and the subconscious. Spending time in nature observing its forms, structures and themes, Mimi Czajka Graminski applies these influences to a study of the figure, drawing on the shapes and curves of the female body and its attire, bringing to her work an interest in the ideas of feminism, femininity, and where the two intersect at a place of both power and fragility. She is also influenced by the subconscious, gleaning ideas from her dreams and waking musings. She translates these inspirations and ideas into formal structures, which are reflective of their origin.

Graminski received her formal art education at Bard College, Annandale, NY and holds a degree in International Studies from the College of St. Rose, Albany, NY. Her work has been featured in many group shows in the Hudson Valley and beyond over the past ten years, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, Islip Art Museum, Katonah Art Museum, and the Albany Institute of History and Art. Most recently, her work was featured in “For the Love of Art” at the Hat Factory in Peekskill, through which her work was highlighted in the New York Times. Graminski was one of 66 artists from across New York State chosen for the New York Foundation for the Arts MARK program, and presented her work at Exit Art in New York City in association with the program. Mimi Czajka Graminski lives and works in Red Hook.