North Shore artists pair up for Artist’s Choice exhibit

Amelia Camurati
Invited artist Pamela Waldroup's photography hangs alongside her partner Kevin Larkin's abstract multimedia piece in the Artist's Choice exhibit. (Photo courtesy of Pamela Waldroup)

The work of four North Shore artists is featured in b.j spoke gallery’s annual Artist’s Choice exhibit at the Huntington gallery.

© Razzle-dazzle by Karen Kirshner

The exhibit, which runs through Feb. 25, allows gallery members to show their work alongside a chosen partner. A reception for the exhibit is set for 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday.

Roslyn Heights resident Kevin Larkin, who also serves as gallery president, and New Hyde Park residents Gia Schifano and Katherine Criss, a gallery executive board member, chose artists Pamela Waldroup, Martha McAleer and Nan Coffey, respectively, for the show.

Roslyn resident Caroline Kaplowitz was chosen by gallery member Karen Kirshner for the exhibit as well.

The artists of b.j. spoke gallery select an artist they respect and admire to show with them. The two artists curate which pieces to pair and base their selections on the way the art complements or contrasts, and demonstrates each artist’s style best. 

(Photo courtesy of Gia Schifano)

Schifano, a realism artist, said she invited McAleer, an abstract artist, because the two often seek out similar scenes to paint but in vastly different ways.

“I do realistic landscapes and portraits,” Schifano said. “I really never quite understood the appeal of abstract art except for decoration, but Martha’s work stood out for me.”

Often inspired by the East End like McAleer, Schifano said she often looks for still water that offers mirrored reflections of boats and surrounding landscape for her works.

(Photo courtesy of Katherine Criss)

Criss, a longtime professional photographer, said she made the switch to painting as the photography field was switching from film to digital because she wanted “a more tactile feel.”

She met Coffey, she said, through a community chorus in Glen Cove and was immediately drawn to her classic portraiture work.

“I thought, here’s this beautiful classical artist, and she would stand out among the freedom of the abstractions,” Criss said.

In the exhibit, Criss is using a photograph of a home as well as a painted self-portrait of Criss coming out of a paper bag.

“I’ve had the freedom as a member of our co-op gallery to try new things,” Criss said. “It’s not just what I’ve been doing for 50 years.”

Coalescence by Caroline Kaplowitz (Photo courtesy of Caroline Kaplowitz)

Kaplowitz and her member partner Kirshner are both abstract painters, but Kaplowitz said her work is more figurative than Kirshner’s.

Kaplowitz has two pieces in the exhibit, including a large red painting titled “Coalescence” in the gallery’s front window showcased alongside her partner’s work in the adjacent window.

Kirshner describes Kaplowitz as a “figure in Roslyn” after her long career in adult education for Roslyn school district as well as her art career, including two solo Nassau County Museum of Arts shows and the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill.

“When you’re creating a work, you are in another zone,” Kaplowitz said. “I can’t even remember how I did something sometimes after I’ve finished, but I find that there’s never a completion. I always have something more to say about it, and that’s what constitutes a series of work. You have to go back and do it again to try to satisfy what you’re trying to convey.”

Sidereus Nuncius [The Starry Messenger] Portrait of Galileo Galilei by Kevin Larkin (Photo courtesy of Kevin Larkin)
Larkin, who has been an artist since first grade, said his piece in the Artist’s Choice Exhibit is an assemblage piece titled Sidereus Nuncius [The Starry Messenger] Portrait of Galileo Galilei from 2018.

When he’s not painting, Larkin is a Suffolk County bus driver, taking mentally disabled residents from their homes to various appointments. He also teaches abstract painting twice a week at the Art League in Dix Hills.

Abstract artist Larkin chose a Waldroup, a photographer, for his partner because he said he found a similarity in their thought processes.

“I found in her work profoundness to the imagery that somewhat eliminates the artist’s ego,” Larkin said of Waldroup. “I found that she was able to look at the images and you don’t think about the photographer. I also want you to look at my work and not think about that someone has made it. It should exist on its own.”

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