7 Artists Show Watercolor's Range at Ashawagh Hall

A new group exhibition in Springs is exploring the art of watercolor in its many forms next weekend, Friday, September 29 to Sunday, October 1.

The show, Water+Color+Works, kicks off at Ashawagh Hall (780 Spring Fireplace Road) from 3–7 p.m. on Friday, with an opening artists reception from 5–8 p.m. Saturday (full hours 10 a.m.–8 p.m.), and hours from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Featured artists include: Kirsten Benfield, Nancy Brody, Barbara Dilorenzo, Laurie Hall, Janet Rojas, Carol Craig Sigler and Jerry Schawbe — all displaying how watercolor can go far beyond simply creating landscapes and still life paintings.

Artists such as East Hampton painters Barbara Dilorenzo, Kirsten Benfield and Janet Rojas bring loose, painterly land/seascapes to the show with pieces like Benfield’s “Last Light,” Dilorenzo’s “Squall Over Gardiners” and Rojas’ “Water View,” each with varying degrees of wetness in their application.

“In exploring my sense of place on the East End, I bring the two places together in landscapes, and mind-scapes,” Benfield says, pointing out that her work is influenced by her upbringing in New Zealand and her current home in the Hamptons.

On the other side, Schwabe, who’s showed extensively on the East End, offers monotype pieces and watercolor abstraction, such as the geometric yet painterly watercolor “Cosmic Sailing.”

Hall offers even more control with her colorful, quilt-like watercolor, “Hopscotch,” a reflection of her 46-year career as a textile designer.

Brody, meanwhile, creates abstracted landscapes with paintings like “Opalescent” in her East Hampton studio, where she’s been full-time since 2016, following 30 years in NYC. “Living full-time in East Hampton, the extraordinary light and nature has been my inspiration,” Brody says, also noting that the Watercolor Works group has been a huge encouragement. “It’s never too late to try and achieve your dreams,” she adds.

Watercolor Works, the group who put together this exhibition for yet another year since 2017, formed as a collection of likeminded artists working with watercolor in and around East Hampton. This is not their first show together, and will not be their last.