Press release
2nd Annual Small Works Show
Emerald Gallery, is the newest venue to open on the percolating arts scene in Fairfield. The new spacious exhibition space on the Fairfield Square is run by ArtLife Society, a non-profit organization energetically focused on presenting opportunities in the arts.
The "Small Works' Show will be amongst 24 galleries and merchants exhibiting arts and crafts during the upcoming December 5th 1st Fridays Art Walk. Says Stacey Hurlin, director of ArtLife Society, and moving force behind Emerald Gallery, "This exhibit is a celebration of smallness."
The exhibit features 180 original works of art by 60 regional and national artists, all in minimal stature. The opportunity to exhibit in this show is by invitation. The range of participation includes works by the recognized and the novice artist alike. The artwork also has a wide range of pricing. "These make for the perfect gift-art on an intimate scale", says Hurlin.
Last year's first time exhibit saw a 20% sale of the show. That was when Fairfield's 1st Friday Art Walks were quite unknown and were attended each month by only a few hundred local arts and entertainment lovers. The art walks have been getting statewide attention in recent months, more than tripling the attendance.
Hurlin comments on experiencing an exhibit of all small works: "By visiting an exhibit like this, one gains a remarkable respect for art created on an intimate scale. People really get hooked, you know, drawn into the smallness of it all.
"Small works are often indescribably potent. Last year in the course of the two month exhibit we could see pieces having this effect on the viewer. Someone would come back again and again and look at the same piece of work. Finally one day they walk in and say 'OK, I have to have this.' We see Small Works Converts with an immense show like this.
A big work of art, a great expansive landscape for example, has the ability to pull you right into it. Its vastness becomes your vastness. However, the observer and the 'object d'art' take on something different when it is a small work. In diving deep into the smallness of it, you often end up absorbing it into yourself. The observer walks away changed, enriched. And, after all, that is what art is all about, isn't it.
The Small Works show is one of more then 20 art exhibits that will be part of the December art walk. It's both an event for the serious art collector and it is family fun. The kids love the mime, music and other entertainment.
The quality of art exhibited in Fairfield has many out of town artists opting to exhibit here. The small works show is an example of this observation. 18 artists have sent work from out of state.
The variety and quantity is breathtaking.