Between the Lines

Albany Center Gallery is pleased to announce its next exhibit titled BETWEEN THE LINES. From January 30 – February 23, 2018, BETWEEN THE LINES will feature the work of acclaimed regional artists Rhea Nowak, Dana Piazza, Kelly Schultz and Russell Serrianne. An artists’ reception will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, February 2, 2018 in conjunction with 1st Friday in downtown Albany, and the public is invited to attend. The exhibit is sponsored by David E. Nardolillo, Esq., New York State Council on the Arts, and the Albany Wine & Dine for the Arts Festival.

Albany Center Gallery rings in 2018 with BETWEEN THE LINES. Following in the spirit of the new year, the exhibit gathers a group of artists who take advantage of a clean slate to explore inherent characteristics and natural progression. The exhibit calls attention to the very use of line, mark and shape and the different ways the select group of exhibiting artists harness the physical qualities of their preferred materials to compose a sense of atmosphere and space while considering the significance of the part within the whole.

Rhea Nowak uses her work to observe and analyze relationships between “presence and absence, rhythm and awkwardness, mark and intention, and sign and context.” She investigates by experimenting with her ever-expanding cache of printmaking skills. Her experimentations pay off in her prints, which incorporate intaglio printing with precisely placed perforations and delicate stitching. Nowak’s works have been exhibited in juried shows throughout the United States as well as Europe. Rhea Nowak currently teaches foundations, printmaking, artist’s books and advanced collaborative art projects courses at SUNY College at Oneonta in upstate New York.

Dana Piazza’s drawings are automatic and spontaneous. The selection of a drawing instrument and the repetition of its natural mark are two actions that lay at the center of Piazza’s current work. He repeats his chosen mark in an interlocking and weaving pattern with each new mark aiming to match the previous one, while allowing the expected handmade variations to occur. As he puts it, “over time, a small error will perpetually grow into a larger fold or ripple.” The convergence of marks become almost like “cells forming a living organism,” Piazza explains, and he aims to cultivate each drawing’s natural progression; “under this minimal stewardship, each drawing grows freely like an ivy.” Dana Piazza studied at State University of New York College at Purchase and is an experienced graphic designer.

Kelly Schultz is a multimedia visual artist currently focusing on exploring the characteristics of acrylic, watercolor and gouache paint as tools to create the sense of an atmosphere. Schultz embraces the process of applying and removing paint, aided by the use of water, to create ephemeral organic forms that “become like transient orbs of energy, subtly exploring ideas of preciousness and mortality.” Schultz holds a BFA in drawing and painting with a minor in Art History from Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts. She currently lives in Ballston Lake, New York.

Russell Serrianne uses the energized line of the vine tendril as his three-dimensional drawing tool. His process is guided by the selection of individual tendrils and considering their placement within the whole to create an interwoven “fluid shape, a composition.” Serrianne preserves the tendril with burnishing techniques and clear shellac in order to “freeze the tendril’s line” and create “a visual interplay with what is natural and when applied out of context creates pause for re-examination.” Serrianne attended the New School of Art in Toronto, Canada as well as the State of New York at Plattsburgh. He currently lives in Glens Falls, New York.

BETWEEN THE LINES, on display at Albany Center Gallery from January 30 to February 23, 2018, will feature New York artists Rhea Nowak, Dana Piazza, Kelly Schultz and Russell Serrianne. An opening reception for BETWEEN THE LINES will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday February 2, 2018. The public is invited to attend.