FAIRFIELD, Conn.—Sacred Heart University's Gallery of Contemporary Art will open its 16th season with an exhibition of the works of Judith Steinberg—“Links inForm”—opening on Sunday, September 18th with a reception from 1 – 3:30 PM. The Carol Sudhalter Jazz Duo will perform and refreshments will be served. The exhibit will continue through October 27th. The artist will also present an Art Talk on Wednesday, September 27, at 7 PM in the Gallery. All events are free and the public is cordially invited to attend.

In addition to the artist's works in the Gallery, those attending will be able to view the site-specific sculpture, “Links”, commissioned for the new Christian Witness Commons Residence Halls. Steinberg won the commission in an invitational competition that was held last fall as part of the University's Voluntary Percent for Art program.

Sacred Heart University has made a unique commitment to the arts through this program that echoes the State of Connecticut's Percent for Art Program that requires a percentage of the cost of any state building be set aside funds for commissioned works of art for the exterior or interior of a new building. At the University, each work commissioned has been designed as a signature meeting place for students and visitors that adds to the physical beauty of the campus while also providing seating throughout the campus.

Steinberg, a member of the Sculptor's Guild, has exhibited widely. Most recently she was the featured artist in “De Amsteltuin” in Amstelveen, The Netherlands, and won the 2005 Sculpture Award in the Silvermine Gallery's Art of the Northeast USA.

Steinberg works in abstract forms that combine a fluid organization of architectural references with the organic forms of nature. The “Links inForm” exhibit will include new aluminum sculptures as well as works on paper that combine drawing, collage and painting—contrasting the simplicity of the new monochromatic sculptures with the colorful, nearly baroque, joyous excesses of the works on paper.

The works on paper utilize a combination of paint, inks and charcoals—as well as collaged, painted and torn papers—to create spontaneous, energetic compositions. These works, some of which are mounted on aluminum and hang an inch away from the wall, seem to dance with sheer exuberance. The bright juxtaposition of colors and quickly drawn forms are a clue to the origination of the forms that invigorate her sculptures with a similar sense of movement.

As an indicator of a very fertile imagination, 126 of the smaller drawings/collages are combined into an installation entitled “The Colors of My Dreams.” These drawings/collages began as watercolors that gradually incorporated other media. Installed in rows, a few inches apart, they create a powerful and individualistic formalist dictionary of lines, shapes and color combinations.

“The impulse to draw has always been a strong one for me,” Steinberg notes. “I do not do preparatory drawings for the sculptures but, instead, work very spontaneously, with one move leading freely to the next. Inspiration comes from such movements in nature as the unpredictable paths of fish in water, or insects and birds in flight.”

Steinberg takes advantage of the perfect view from her studio on Long Island Sound to study those movements in the gardens, wetlands and beach just outside her door.

The new sculptures in this exhibit are composed of two-dimensional shapes that read as lines of gestural drawing. These curvilinear shapes—like those of moving water, wind flowing through reeds, or the negative shapes created between tree limbs—rather than stressing volume seem to pierce space and often define negative space as cogently as do the forms themselves. Lightly balanced, with an overlay of the rhythms of nature, these simple works appear to defy gravity, especially since most of the new works are totally white. The combination of arcs and diagonals, as well as rounded and jagged forms, act as three-dimensional lines. As a result, many of the sculptures seem to belie their solid aluminum medium.

Gallery Hours are Monday through Thursday from 12 to 5 PM and Sundays from 12 to 4 PM. The Gallery will be closed for Columbus Day Weekend.

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