Courtesy of ArtisTree Community Arts Center
This bench is one of several pieces of an exhibit presented as part of artist Lynn Graznak’s “Beautiful Light of Burning Bridges.”
Friday, Oct. 23 at 5:30 p.m. — SOUTH POMFRET — Through works of sculptural narrative assemblage and a room-sized installation, Lynn Graznak explores memory, folk tales, childhood, and heartbreak. Though sometimes macabre, these poetically surreal pieces complement the season, when the veil between the worlds of reality and magic is most thin. Graznak’s works are on exhibit at ArtisTree Community Arts Center, 2095 Pomfret Road, South Pomfret. An opening reception will be held Friday, Oct. 23 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Exhibit dates are Oct. 23 to Nov. 14.
The “Beautiful Light of Burning Bridges” exhibit title refers both to a specific piece and the crazy journey Graznak took to get here/now. Her earlier pieces are from a time of grieving, loss and rage, but since coming here to New England in 2013, Graznak turned a sort of existential corner and is working (“still darkly!”, she’ll tell you) with more storytelling elements. Each piece includes a “lyric” or short prose poem that embellishes and deepens the visual elements.
Two of the three rooms exhibiting Graznak’s work are filled with individual pieces, mostly freestanding on pedestals. Each incorporates found (and sought after) elements; brilliant, felted textures; organic structures along with hand sculpted portions. The third room contains a series of works structured in a series creating a longer narrative called “The Madwoman’s Granddaughter.” Visitors are encouraged to bring their smartphone and headphones to access an audio narration to take them through the 16 stations along the path. At this time of year, the haunted path is more accessible to all of us and Graznak has created an environment which is brilliantly dark within the safety and calm of the gallery setting.
“For the past couple of years I have wanted to make an art piece that was a story that you could actually walk into.” Says Graznak. “‘The Madwoman’s Granddaughter’ is an approximately autobiographical short story divided into 16 ‘pages,’ each one composed of combined textual and visual elements. And it’s…big — approximately seven-feet-tall and winding around three sides of one of the rooms of the gallery,” she adds.
For more info, visit www.artistreevt.org.
