Rejoice in springtime’s burst of energy with the premiere of Haven in Place at the Gallery at WREN, an art exhibition awash in vibrant color and texture featuring watercolorist Debbie Aldrich and textile artist Jane Balshaw.
Despite having lived for extended periods elsewhere, both artists experience intense feelings of belonging and comfort in New Hampshire. This sense of home translates into their respective bodies of work, including landscapes, still lifes, and experiments in abstraction, all on view at WREN in Haven in Place.
Debbie Aldrich has deep roots in the North Country: her ancestors settled in Sugar Hill, NH in 1899. After more than two decades in Texas, Aldrich returned to the North Country in 2005. She now lives in a house her ancestors built, waking up to the same mountain view that has inspired generations of her family. “What does that mean to me as a person and my practice of art?” asks Aldrich. “Quite simply this is my place of safety and refuge, not just the place where I live. The constant changing of the seasons brings about different lights, colors, and moods that are infinitely inspiring to me.”
“When moving to New Hampshire, I had never experienced days so long and days so short, natural changes so dramatic and colors so vivid. It’s the light,” says textile artist Jane Balshaw, who was born in California but moved to New Hampshire in 2003. A quilter before a painter, Balshaw paintings are executed on cloth then stitched to produce a quilted image. “Often embroidered and appliquéd or embellished with collage, my work is intended to be at once pleasing to the eye yet yield surprises when viewed up close. Just like nature.”
Meet the artists and mingle with other art lovers at the opening reception for Haven in Place at WREN on Friday, May 6, 5-7 PM. Enjoy complimentary beverages and light refreshments at this fun and free cultural event!
Haven in Place will be on view at the Gallery at WREN from Friday, May 6 through Sunday, June 26. The Gallery is open during WREN’s regular hours, Monday-Saturday 10 AM – 5 PM and Sunday 10 AM – 4 PM.
The Adair Country Inn & Restaurant is the proud sponsor of the Gallery at WREN.
About WREN
The Women’s Rural Entrepreneurial Network (WREN) is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization in Bethlehem, NH. WREN provides classes, workshops, community workspace, networking and events to support better lives and livelihoods, access to markets, and rural economic development in the North Country. WREN’s programs are funded in part by the NH CDFA CDBG Program, a grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and the NH State Council on the Arts Public Value Partnership Grant.
Learn more about the exhibit and WREN at wrenworks.org/gallery/