“Implication,” a group exhibition at the Edgewood Gallery, derives much of its energy from a display of paintings by Penny Santy and Barbara Vural. Santy and Vural create abstract works, but they have different styles. Thus, there’s ample opportunity for comparison and contrast.
However, that’s not the sum total of this show. It also presents Doug Williams’ glassworks, in the form of pendants and marbles, and natural-elements jewelry by Esperanza Tielbaard. Her creations embrace and reference nature.
First, “Ripples,” an oil-on-linen work by Santy, clearly merits extended viewing. It portrays four figures on a beach, grabbing a rope in a moment of competition.
On one level, the painting is physical and intense, as it celebrates bodies in motion. We see very little of the figures’ faces, and that accentuates the vision of legs, hooded sweatshirts and arms thrusting forward. On the other, the work seems to move beyond a tug of war. It communicates a larger sense of struggle.
“Implication” also presents other paintings by Santy: “Sisterhood,” in which two more figures tug on a rope; “Slippery When Wet,” a small oil on board; “Ashes,” with its combination of shapes, red color and a glimpse of a subject’s feet and ankles. In several paintings, Santy portrays a subject’s feet in fine detail, challenging viewers to consider the human body from a different perspective.
Her paintings have elements of figuration, distinguishing them from Vural’s works which completely embrace abstraction. Beyond that, they document her bold use of color.
In “Awakening II,” an acrylic on canvas, orange, gold and green colors dominate, creating a vibrant work.
And there’s “Interior Architecture,” another acrylic, that evokes the landscape of an urban neighborhood. There, Vural integrates right angles, a T pattern, and blocks.
“The Swimmer,” meanwhile, emphasizes blue color, as it suggests bodies of water. There’s a sense of flow within the painting.
Other works demonstrate how the artist utilized various visual approaches. One painting, untitled but dedicated to Adam, emphasizes lines, stripes, swatches of color. Another artwork, “Mediterranean Blues,” integrates multiple shapes, as it suggests a shoreline or a beach. It’s easy to envision a sun-kissed afternoon.
In addition, the works celebrate Vural’s long-time artistic career. Sadly, she died on January 24, 2024.
Thus, the paintings on display at Edgewood provide an elegy. Vural was an arts educator who taught in the Westhill and Jamesville Dewitt school districts, a colorist comfortable with both abstraction and realism, an artist who showed her work at various local venues.
Indeed, she took part in shows at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn and the Broad Street Gallery in Hamilton, among other sites. And her paintings were selected by the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University for a retrospective group exhibition. It honored female artists who graduated from the college.
The Edgewood exhibit also displays work by Doug Williams who’s been a glassworker for roughly 20 years. He has several marbles on display, and they are light years beyond the marbles many of us played with as children. His works are small, pretty, indicative of the skills he brings to his glass pieces. Among other things, they reflect innovative designs and use of various colors.
Finally, the show displays necklaces and bracelets made by Tielbaard. They include gold-chain items, as well as necklaces utilizing seedpods in various colors– ruby red, green and others. Those pieces evoke vegetation and nature.
She’s an artist with multiple interests– painting, photography and design projects among them.
“Implication” provides an opportunity to view a range of media and to see enough work that it’s possible to get a sense of each artist’s creations. That, combined with interesting individual artworks such as Santy’s painting, “Ripples,” make “Implication” a well done show.
The exhibit is on display through April 12 at Edgewood, 216 Tecumseh Rd. The gallery is open from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10:00 to 2:00 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information, call 315-445-8111 or access edgewoodartandframe.com.
Carl Mellor covered visual arts for the Syracuse New Times from 1994 through 2016. He continues to write about artists and exhibitions in the Syracuse area.
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