so super excited to see our summer exhibitions for sally king benedict and conny goelz schmitt up and hanging on the gallery walls! we have been anxiously waiting to see the work for the shows for over a year especially since sally moved to a brand new studio across the country and this is conny’s first solo exhibition at the gallery. sally king benedict recently moved her family and studio out to ketchum, idaho from atlanta. she also welcomed her 3rd child a month ago. during this time she has completed 17 paintings currently hanging at the gallery. we are thoroughly impressed with her dediction in her studio and beyond. the recent paintings reflect the influence of her new mountain surrounding as seen in heli ski face and also incorporate inspiration from her past including palm trees, swimming pools and peaches. sally always pushes the boundries in materials using multiple canvases in cannonball and vanish on a few of the larger paintings. viewing the paintings together allows you to enter sally’s world which is full of energy, color, love and faces.
conny goelz schmitt’s sculptures spoke to us the first time we laid eyes on them. once we found out they were made from vintage books we were hooked. conny is a master at color and composition. each sculpture has a unique shape with no two looking alike. we are obsessed with the old marble papers, book stamps and written notes left unadorned on the works. the whole idea of taking discarded books and recreating them into artwork to continue their lifespan in another way is brilliant. conny has included three mobiles in the show which she collaborated with a metalsmith to create the hanging apparatus. they are mesmerising and include enamelled pieces with the book shapes. the volume and colours together make you few like you are surrounded by rainbows on all sides.
sally king benedict received her ba in studio art from the college of charleston. sally’s mixed media works range from her classic faces to pure abstraction. she is inspired by her travels and all aspects of her life spill into her work. the energy she creates through her brushstrokes and palette is truly unique. her visual voice is incredibly strong and stays in the viewer’s mind long after viewing the work. sally lives and works in ketchum, idaho.
conny goelz schmitt is a collage artist and sculptor who spent her youth in germany, moved to taiwan in her twenties, and relocated to the united states in 1996. having been immersed in three very different cultures, she is drawn to hard edge painting influenced by the german “attention to detail”, the retro color palette reminiscent of taiwan in the 80s, and the very often experimental and creative pioneering spirit of americans. her medium of choice is almost without exception the vintage book.
in germany she studied sinology and german literature at eberhard karls university in tuebingen. she was named sculptor of the year by chief curator of boston university, kate mcnamara in caa’s 69th members’ prize show. in 2016, paul c. ha, director of the list visual art center at massachusetts institute of technology, selected her work for the best multi media prize in caa’s national prize show. he work has been featured at galerie biesenbach, cologne (germany), the cultural association of rosa venerini, viterbo (italy), the painting center, new york, site: brooklyn, new york, the danforth art museum, framingham, ma, among others.