The Cooley Gallery is proud to announce Painting with Paper an exhibition and sale of original works by Joan Brownstein.  Yes, that Joan Brownstein.

Art and antiques dealers are a passionate lot.  Ask them a question within their chosen subject and prepare yourself for an interesting and thorough answer. These people know their fields.  If the conversation gets onto a more personal level, you'll often learn these experts had a previous "life,” something far beyond an attendant interest.  

Joan Brownstein is a perfect example.  Known in the antiques world as a specialist in American Folk art portraiture since 1980, Joan is a highly sought after dealer and expert in her field.  Folk art can be described as a form of expression made by people who are not bound to traditional academic conventions.  Folk Art portraits as described by Carrie Rebora Barratt of The Metropolitan Museum of Art are characterized by sharply defined forms, neatly organized compositions with clearly defined spatial arrangements, some with an almost mathematical precision and symmetry, generalized lighting, equal attention paid to all areas of the canvas, an absence of expressive brushwork, and an overall flatness and linearity.

This description is easily applied to Joan’s most recent work. Color creates perspective in these small and complete pieces. Patterns play in a give and take relationship. Paper is colored, layered and patterned while lines interplay with the colors and shapes. Joan is very comfortable talking about her influences and you might find visual references to Richard Diebenkorn or Piet Mondrian to name a couple, but even folk artists influence each other.

Joan has degrees in art and has taught and written extensively on the subject but has only recently allowed herself to delve more deeply into her passion of making art. Time has taken on a new meaning for her and, as an artist, the best way to deal with the fleeting nature of time is to make art.

A preview of Painting with Paper will be held at The Cooley Gallery Booth at the Philadelphia Antiques Show at The Navy Yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the weekend of April 15th through 17th, 2016. For more information: www.philadelphiaantiquesandartshow.com. The exhibition of over thirty works will be displayed in its entirety at The Cooley Gallery in Old Lyme, April 21st – May 28th.  This opening will coincide with Friends in the Fields, an exhibition of historic paintings by four colleagues of the Old Lyme Art Colony. A celebratory opening reception will be held on Thursday, April 21st from 5 – 7 p.m. The public is welcome.

Founded in 1981 and located in the heart of historic Old Lyme, the Cooley Gallery specializes in fine American paintings from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, including the Hudson River School, American Impressionism, and select contemporary artists. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Please call (860) 434-8807 or visit www.cooleygallery.com  for additional information. The Cooley Gallery is located at 25 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT 06371.