The rhyming dyad “flower power” is a throwback to 1960s hippie culture and anti-war demonstrations. But the expression could just as easily refer to the awesomeness of nature’s florescence every single year. Another time-worn phrase — “hope springs eternal” — suggests that blossoms symbolize optimism against all odds. And who couldn’t use that right now?
At the Phoenix gallery in Waterbury, an exhibition titled simply “Flora” delivers more than a seasonal punch in the psyche. Phoenix owner and curator Joseph Pensak and cocurator TR Risk assembled works of nine Vermont artists that present myriad — and sometimes unexpected — responses to the theme.
We discern red flowers through a myopic blur, unencumbered by roots or the laws of gravity.
Perhaps none of the artists embraces the power of flowers more than Kelsey Telek. Her colored pencil drawing “KT X TR” immediately catches a visitor’s eye — it’s surely the biggest intermediate incurve chrysanthemum ever rendered. “I am inspired [by] how different flowers speak to different people,” the Waterbury-based artist states on her website. “I capture the flowers that speak to me…”
Telek takes that inspiration seriously and meticulously. Her 43.5-by-35.5-inch drawing reveals every luscious, unfolding petal of the mum in light purple hues. The mat board is otherwise untouched, leaving this wondrous blossom to float untethered in white space. The “TR” in the artwork’s title refers to Risk, who constructed its dark wood frame — and created nearly a dozen works in this exhibition himself.
Alison Scileppi, another Waterbury resident, also took the “Flora” theme to heart. According to Pensak, this is her first public exhibit, but a viewer wouldn’t guess that from the exuberant confidence of “Midsummer,” her 30-by-30-inch painting on canvas. Red, yellow and magenta flowers dance with abandon against a turquoise ground, as if the artist has suspended the season in gel for all time. (Come to think of it, why hasn’t anyone invented flower globes?)
Painting isn’t even Scileppi’s main gig. The owner of Dora Blue Design, she provides event coordination and design services and is the mother of two. It’s no surprise to learn she’s also a gardener and floral designer. “Midsummer” is a painting to keep hope alive all winter long.
Risk, primarily a furniture maker with clients nationwide, takes a similarly constructive approach to painting. Building up thick layers of acrylic paint — and often dirt, sand, sawdust or botanical detritus — he creates sparse groupings of stylized flowers that resemble dandelion puffs. His palette veers toward dusky, earthy hues, in which the blossoms appear ghostly. But he brightens some works with washes of color, such as the golden horizon in the 48-by-55-inch “Sky on Fire.”
In addition to his framed artworks in “Flora,” ranging in size from a few inches to more than 10 feet, Risk’s furniture and other paintings can be seen in his studio at the back of the gallery. The tables inside the Phoenix are his creations, as well.
Waitsfield artist Frankie Gardiner is known for her brushy, ethereal paintings, in which forms are whisper-soft and sometimes inscrutable. In one of her two works in this exhibit, the lovely 30-inch-square “Green Moon,” we discern red flowers through a myopic blur, unencumbered by roots or the laws of gravity. In the 14-by-11-inch “White Violet,” the artist presents a single flower as impressionistic fluff, with a supporting cast of greenery and a patch of blue sky. Gardiner seems to feel the intangible essence of being and transmute it into paint.
In stark contrast are Annemarie Buckley‘s four geometric abstractions. The Burlington-based graphic designer has an eye for typography, crisp lines and vivid color. It takes imagination to see how her blocky compositions fit the theme of “Flora,” but the titles provide hints. Buckley’s 30-by-24-inch acrylic “Blue Mountains, Red Earth” invites the viewer to envision her ostensible subject matter as so many triangles, rectangles and squares. Call it landscape by way of math.
Similarly, Linden Eller‘s three abstract mixed-media collages are all titled “Unknown Bouquet” (numbered 2, 3 and 4). Though the works don’t look like flowers, the Mount Holly-based artist does incorporate petals, along with paper, acrylic, graphite, pastel, colored pencil, oil stick, thread, lace and vellum. This inventive mix, which she calls “memory architecture,” somehow looks both spontaneous and carefully assembled. “She thinks of her work as layered field recordings that represent a oneness,” Eller’s website reads. “[It offers] multiple perspectives and repetitions of the same shared story.”
Middlesex artist Axel Stohlberg is known for his architectonic assemblages in wood and found materials, but he tirelessly investigates multiple mediums and elemental shapes. His contributions to this exhibition are three 13-inch-square “Night Drawings.” Rendered in white pastel on black paper, the petite forms look like spectral images of something that perhaps only a botanist could identify.
Equally enigmatic and dark but also very sparkly is “Demeter,” by Milton Rosa-Ortiz. The Burlington artist’s remarkable technique involves gluing Swarovski crystals on the tips of blackened brass pins, which are then arranged on black velvet in a pattern meant to represent the Greek goddess of harvest and agriculture — specifically, Rosa-Ortiz writes, “a medallion of Afghani poppies.” The work “addresses the persecution of the Baha’i” in that country.
The image’s significance may be lost on viewers who don’t read Rosa-Ortiz’s description, but its beauty and painstaking process are undeniable. Stepping back from the piece makes it easier to make out the shapes of poppies, as well as the small map of Afghanistan rendered in red crystals.
Two sculptures by Kristy Hughes, sited in the gallery’s front windows, bear no apparent political import. “Acoustic Mirror” and “Home Is Between Your Teeth” are colorful, nonrepresentational assemblages of handmade paper pulp, papier-mâché, glue and wood found at Rock Point in Burlington.
The Texas-born artist is currently a lecturer at the University of Vermont. Her work “embraces personal conceptions of empowerment, gratitude, and the fundamental act of paying close attention,” according to her online artist statement, while drawing inspiration from her Hispanic, Indigenous and German lineage. But what’s more evident to the viewer is the artist’s dynamic vision and rollicking sense of fun.
“Flora” is on view through July 8 at the Phoenix Gallery in Waterbury. thephoenixvt.com
The original print version of this article was headlined “A Bloom of One’s Own | At the Phoenix, “Flora” is akin to a field of wildflowers”
This article appears in May 15-21, 2024.
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