New exhibit to open at Great Hall in Springfield

The Great Hall presents its sixth annual showcase, Signs of Life, an exhibition featuring the works of husband and wife team Roger Sandes and Mary Welsh. The show will open with an artist’s reception for the public. Wine and light refreshments will be served.

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2016-10-04 / Local New exhibit to open at Great Hall in Springfield Rogers Sandes' artwork is on display at The Great Hall in Springfield. The show will open with an artist’s reception for the public on Friday, October 14 at 5 p.m. at One Hundred River Street. Rogers Sandes' artwork is on display at The Great Hall in Springfield. The show will open with an artist’s reception for the public on Friday, October 14 at 5 p.m. at One Hundred River Street. SPRINGFIELD — The Great Hall presents its sixth annual showcase, Signs of Life, an exhibition featuring the works of husband and wife team Roger Sandes and Mary Welsh. The show will open with an artist’s reception for the public at 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, at One Hundred River Street. Wine and light refreshments will be served. "Signs of Life," offers the opportunity to extend the glories of Vermont’s summer featuring contemporary images of natural beauty and abstract form. Figurative works on nature-based, multi-cultural and art historical themes have been the subject of Roger Sandes’s work since moving to Vermont 35 years ago. His large, iconic paintings incorporating symbols of life and human creativity hang in 32 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, England, Germany, Switzerland and Morocco. Roger Sandes’s paintings look like silk and feel like eggshell. “My glazes and washes are highly translucent. Light can pass through the pigment and bounce off of the white ground. That way the colors can glow. I hope to create objects of contemplation that will attract the eye and reward the viewer with layers of meaning, delightful color, and with allusions to living well.” Mary Welsh’s collages are made of found materials from art magazines, art books, calendars and end papers which are glued with acid free acrylic medium on birch or mahogany plywood panels that have been prepared with acrylic gesso. Mary explains: “My collages are depictions of what we all take for granted — houses, rooms and their contents. Viewing these scenes evokes memories and fantasies….” One source of inspiration for the artists is their perennial garden. It takes the form of an arc on the sunny south side of their home leading to the entrance. It looks beautiful through thick and thin, and in nearly all conditions. Itʼs a wonderful way to experiment with new color combinations, which often show up in their work. Roger says, “Some things thrive, some jump the beds and escape to the fields, some things we love just never last, but the garden endures.” Case in point is the small barn that Sandes and Welsh share. Though admittedly not perfect, it has served them well over the years. Filled with color studies and sketches, paint-spattered work clothes, material for collages and equipment for building frames, the studio presents itself as a still-life snapshot of two people who have lived a life in art. And they’ve lived it in close proximity. Their workspaces are just a few feet apart, a closeness that invites input, helpful hints and lots of support. “I couldn’t imagine working alone,” says Welsh. “We really are a team,” adds Sandes. Always, nature is close by, visible through two large windows, which look out on the Rock River. Birds are always around; sometimes deer and once Sandes saw a fisher, a large dark-colored member of the weasel family that he first mistook for a monkey. “We both have little nature things in our work. Living in the middle of it keeps it in your mind,” says Sandes. Following a multimillion dollar renovation, Historic Fellows Gear Shaper on the Black River in Springfield, VT is now known as One Hundred River Street, featuring a medical center, retail stores, a café, and the soaring venue for public art—The Great Hall. Events at the Great Hall are sponsored by the Springfield Regional Development Corporation. Visitors should use Pearl Street entrance only for October 14 opening. The exhibits at the Great Hall are sponsored by Springfield Regional Development Corporation. For more information go to: Facebook.com/GreatHallSpringfield (802) 885-3061.