Designer Showcase: "At Sea" Opens at The White Room Gallery

"At Sea" - A Designer Showcase of Visual Pleasures

June 7th - June 26th

Opening Reception Sat. June 11th 6-8pm

The White Room Gallery, 2415 Main St Bridgehampton, NY 11932

Featuring art by EJ Camp, Michele Dragonetti, Jill Krutick & Claudia Ward

"At Sea" brings our longing for summer to a peak by expressing something intangible. The exhibition and designer showcase presents works by four artists who do this beautifully.

EJ Camp's photography captures our East End waters revealing both tumultuous and peaceful moments of the sea. Claudia Ward photographs present the sparkling, slippery, glowing 'second' created by curling, crashing water to create lush and beautiful images. Jill Krutick creates expressive and soothing paintings that conjure beauty, texture and motion. Michele Dragonetti's bold and colorful photographs present dramatic and graphic abstract portraits of the diminishing art of painted boat hulls on the East End.

Come walk through imagery that will remind us why we live on the East End and then take a piece of it home with you!

EJ Camp

While renowned for her rich photographic career including celebrity portraits, magazine covers, movie posters and advertising campaigns, additionally EJ Camp has created extraordinary fine art landscape images.

For over 30 years, and throughout the progression of her editorial and commercial career, Camp has photographed the sea and its shores. Her favorite subject, the North and South Forks of Long Island, have some of the most beautiful coastlines in North America, making Camp’s quest for unique images inexhaustible.

A passion for the way light reflects off the changing surfaces of the ocean has directly evolved from a career spent capturing light and emotion in EJ Camp’s portraiture. Her credits include GQ, Glamour, Elle, Esquire, L’Uomo Vogue, Harper’s Bazarr, Men’s Health, New York, Sports Illustrated, ABC, CBS, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Pictures, Showtime, Sony Pictures and Warner Brothers.

Recent exhibitions include “Sand & Water” at Leica Store Miami; The Rivington Hotel Project, New York; Shelter Art, Shelter Architecture, on Shelter Island, New York; PDN International Expo; The Impossible Project Space and New York, Ralph Pucci, New York City. She also teaches at ICP in Manhattan. EJ Camp was born in San Francisco and lives in New York City and Orient, New York.

"Salt Air" by EJ Camp.

Michele Dragonetti

My Boat Hulls series began in the marinas of Montauk, where I was drawn to boats in need of repair and refurbishing. These photos depict the bows of boats—the area that sits both in and above the water. I frame the photos exclusively as square images, which highlights both the universal and individual structural characteristics of the hulls. By limiting my compositions to those that focus entirely on the triangular patterns of the hulls in a square format, I am able to express the essential geometry of the boat’s structure.

Each image captures the beautiful and dramatic impact of the natural elements on the hull's surface, resulting in abstract patterns and uniquely rendered textures. Photos in the ongoing series transform often humble vessels into abstract portraits, celebrating their imperfect appeal.

"Reel Time" by Michele Dragonetti.

Jill Krutick

My paintings focus on capturing colors, movement, shapes and light around me. Using oil on canvas as the primary medium, I make textured works, which strive to exhibit “balance.” This balance is achieved through the precise placement of color and use of texture.

I focus on capturing raw, natural elements – such as terrain, water, sun and sky -- and equalize for the contrast between light and dark while capturing movement through a variety of textures. I select a few colors and a base texture from which to build to begin a journey of exploration. Layering over a period of weeks and months is the key to accentuate the “map” of texture and ultimately reveal each painting’s potential. Running a pallet knife over the raised “bumps” of a moderately dry canvas capitalizes on the texture already infused into the painting. Using a reversal of color amplifies the contrasting hues.

This technique is born from my need to capture movement through a texturized canvas. The palette knife gives me the freedom to blend, build or add color to create depth or flutter on the surface. It adds an element of chance that stimulates my creativity and enhances my connection to a tactile interpretation of the forces around me.

My work is influenced by the Impressionists and Abstract Expressionists. My daily activities coupled with my eco-travels provide me with the content from which to develop creative ideas. I am passionate about “collecting” colors, shapes and textures wherever I go. My paintings often reveal glimpses of recognizable forms, which uncovers insights into a viewer’s emotional state as well as my own.

"Bedroom Slippers" by Jill Krutick.

Claudia Ward

My goal is to create wave images that convey the light, energy, and beauty of one of our most precious resources - our inland and coastal waters. This lifeline provides us with food, power, sustenance, and solace, all of which we too often take for granted.

Surrounded by tidal waters all my life, I have been captivated by their colors and motion, comforted by their rhythms and light, and have yearned to find a way to express the emotions I feel as I watch them ebb and flow. What I love about photographing water is the challenge and unpredictability of it all. It is ever-changing and never the same, as it responds to bars, boulders, and jetties.

I’m always in pursuit of bodies of water that will provide unusual motion and color. The dynamics of moving water interplaying with light creates an image that will be unique in its literal or abstract character. Off-shore or on-shore winds, cloudy or clear skies, tides: high or low, the water’s depth and the bottom’s surface all play a part in creating a singular moment in time–one that will never be repeated.

Working with a specialized printer, I’ve created a variety of presentations for my images. Each enhances the image I’ve created and complements the moment. My goal is to create images of waves and water that will surprise a viewer with what is there but not necessarily seen and to stir us to appreciate and protect this beautiful resource.

"Head Over Heals" by Claudia Ward.

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BASIC FACTS: "At Sea" - A Designer Showcase will be presented June 7 to 26, 2016 at The White Room Gallery, 2415 Main St Bridgehampton, NY 11932. An Opening Reception will take place on Saturday, June 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibition features art by EJ Camp, Michele Dragonetti, Jill Krutick and Claudia Ward. For details, visit www.thewhiteroom.gallery.