Isalos Fine Art

Opera House Arts 10th Anniversary Show Now Online!

(isalosfineart.com)

OHA Moments

Often, after a show at the Stonington Opera House, we step out the back door and pause atop the steps, savoring the view: everything from the Fishing Gear and Auto Parts store to the harbor full of lobster boats. We may have just seen a movie or danced to a local band, or perhaps we’re part of a large summer crowd, having just experienced a new take on Shakespeare, or had our socks knocked-off by a jazz performer. Sometimes, when the entertainment has truly transported us, the baity, salt air aroma comes as a mild shock, and we can only savor our good fortune; our lifestyle in Stonington is shaped as much by the ocean and its moods as it is by the stage and screen just down the street. I find it hard to imagine Stonington without the Opera House, or the Opera House without Stonington.

Carolyn Caldwell, OHA Rocks Lobsterville,

collage, 24" x 18"

Much of the time, the seats around us are filled with people we know. They are the same people who come to our gallery openings: artists, patrons and people who really like wine & cheese. Odds are, they’re all of the above. Sometimes we’re volunteering alongside each other, handing-out programs, painting sets or bagging popcorn. The motto, Incite Art, Create Community is amazingly apt.

Julie Morringello, Hive, lobster bands, paint, wood, 30" x 30"

So, while the building has stood at the end of Main Street for nearly a century, it has grown a new heart and soul over the last ten years. It seemed only natural to celebrate that decade by inciting yet more art and asking a few artists for their take on life at the Opera House and the sense of community it has inspired.

The artists took widely different approaches, suggesting not only their diverse talents, but also the varied role of the Opera House in their lives. Julie Morringello and Eugene Koch, frequent volunteers, focused on an idea about what happens there: the network of activity that makes it all happen, expressed as a net-like grid, or a hive-like assemblage. Jennifer Lee Morrow also took a conceptual route, creating “set changes” that rotate, alternating the “on stage” lighted section. Others focused on particular elements of the place, like Judith Ingram evoking the new stairway that made the Opera House more accesible to her, or Rebecca Daugherty painting a moment at the concessions stand.

Buzz Masters, Three Witches, mixed media, 24" x 24"

Tying together performance and the sense of community it inspires, Jill Hoy’s Quarryography features recognizeable community members, both performers and audience members. Quarryography and Shakespeare have worked deeply into artists’ imaginations, as has Peter Beerits’ dragon sculpture and the second line parade that brought the spirit of New Orleans to Main Street Stonington.

Susan  Webster, Kick Up  Your Heels at the Opera House

acrylic paint on size 10 high-heel shoes

The tenth anniversary of Opera House Arts provided a theme for several collage-like pieces, as well as for Susan Webster, whose painted high-heeled shoes (size 10) suggest a celebration befitting an auspicious milestone. More than a theme or a tribute though, the work in the show is personal to the artists, evolving from their own experience. As they have been inspired to make their experience more tangible, perhaps their efforts will nuance our own enjoyment, and the next time we step outside after a show, our experience will be that much richer.


Thanks to our panel of jurors: Larry Estey, Judith Jerome, Macy Lasky and John Ollman, and also to Linda Nelson and the staff at Opera House Arts for their help and encouragement.