BRATTLEBORO-Artist Erika Ranee, a New York-based painter known for her dynamic abstract work, will present a hands-on workshop at the River Gallery School, 32 Main St., #201, Saturday, Jan. 17, from 2 to 4 p.m. Advance registration is required ($45; $35 for BMAC members). The workshop will be followed by an artist talk at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) at 5 p.m.
Offered in connection with Ranee’s BMAC exhibition, “I Don’t Like to Draw,” these events provide a deep look into Ranee’s creative process.
Participants are welcome to attend one or both events.
The workshop, titled “Trust the Process,” invites participants to experiment, loosen expectations, and explore new possibilities through a variety of media, including graphite, acrylic, charcoal, and collage. Attendees are encouraged to bring a few small objects — such as shells, pressed flowers, or ticket stubs — to serve as creative prompts. All experience levels are welcome.
A self-described “die-hard abstract painter,” Ranee builds her artworks in layers of poured paint, shellac, spray paint, oil stick, and found materials, creating luminous surfaces that “record shifts in movement, intuition, and decision-making,” wrote organizers in a news release. Everyday objects — postcard scraps, leaves, fragments of handwriting — become embedded within her paintings, “transforming each piece into a kind of time capsule.”
Organizers described Ranee’s creative approach as a “an improvisational rhythm of layering materials, responding, embedding, obscuring, and revealing,”
Based in New York City, Ranee received her Master of Fine Arts in painting from the University of California at Berkeley. Her awards include two New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowships in Painting (1996, 2021), an AIM Fellowship from the Bronx Museum, and residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation (now the Sharpe-Walentas Studio).
Her work has been exhibited widely across the U.S. and internationally, with solo presentations at BRIC’s Project Room and Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, both in NYC; a group exhibition at the Southampton Arts Center; and recent international exhibitions in Düsseldorf and Paris.
For more information and to register, visit brattleboromuseum.org or call 802-257-0124, ext. 101. “Erika Ranee: I Don’t Like to Draw” is on view at BMAC through March 6.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.