Ragan Kilkelly offered textural guideposts to growing up in her acrylic, 'The Progression of Girlhood.'
A “Selected Works” art exhibit by Glen Ridge High School students is currently on display at the Ridgewood Avenue Train Station.
There are 29 works in the show, all commendable but two blue ribbons were awarded.
One blue ribbon went, and rightly so, to Emilia White’s “Castle in Ireland.” It is a narrow oil, maybe 14 inches high and five inches wide, and the dimensions are used to advantage. It is just the side of a building, something ordinary, but Emilia tilted the composition with a small window way high up making it quite a slide down. The stone color and texture are rendered effectively.
Cameron Atkinson’s “Chaos in the Kitchen,” an oil, is an overhead view of a kitchen table, dishes, food, pots, the top of a youth’s head and the face of a bull dog looking up at the viewer.
Elle Graham’s watercolor “Ancient Egypt” is humorous with a surprisingly well-balanced composition even though most of the picture is in the lower portion or unseen while the rest is mostly sky. There is a floating, cloud-shrouded cat, an Egyptian divinity.
There is something ironic about Chloe Novoa’s “Sleepless Nights.” The lower composition is a crowded downtown area out West, the center is an overbearing neon sign. But at the top is a cowboy hat, perched atop a guitar neck, outside the boundary of the frame.
Daphne Wallace’s intriguing “Feeling Crabby,” seen in a previous student show, is still good and with reports of ocean fish found with traces of hard drugs in their flesh, did this monstrous crab consume steroids? Is Daphne making a statement about ecology?
Ragan KIlkelly’s “The Progression of Girlhood,” an acrylic, has textures so sensitively rendered that a consideration of the title, and the theme, must include the sense of touch in a girl’s life. In the work is a perfume bottle, ribbons, satin and a stuffed toy rabbit with a single eye looking at you.
The judges always award blue and red ribbons, but in student art shows maybe a ribbon should be given for the creepiest work. Leah Hunter’s triptych, “We Started the Fire,” is creepy. It may be classified an assemblage, but the three drawings are of a city scene, a forest scene and a movable arm and hand attached to the side of the frame. The arm is especially well-rendered with the hand holding a lit match. You can move the arm and start the fire or not. It might remind someone of those little hugging tchotchkes chipmonks your neighbors have on their refrigerator. When they hug, husband and wife are at peace, when apart, don’t ask. Leah’s arm swung above the forest means someone in the house is really, really peeved. Leah also has “Landscape with a Plume” which is reminiscent of a Work Projects Administration mural.
Another “assemblage” work, this time a photo, is “Laser Focus,” by Ollie Kleinberg. Ollie called it an embroidered photo and that may be the term. It is accurate. It is of a seated boy gazing down at his cell phone. Yarn was used to connect the boy’s eyes and cell phone. This work is a little creepy, too, because while the boy sits casually, the embroidery transfixes him to the cellphone. Or is he receiving a Manchurian Candidate signal and being commanded to perform some deed?
The show continues until June 30 and is well-worth it. But take your time.
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