Art Week Berkshires Comes to Otis With Art by Gail Gelburd and Celeste Watman
Open Studio May 17 & 18, 2025 from 11-5 p.m.
We live in a cacophony of rivers, lakes, waterfalls and innumerable trees. They are special to us, and we realize, living in the Berkshires, that we are our environment. We are one and we are all connected. Gail Gelburd’s work is comprised of images of trees and water overlaid with the human form. Some works are two dimensional and some are printed on fabric and then molded into a sculpture. The images of nature and the human form personify nature. They explode from the wall, while life-sized figures stand on their own or become a fountain. Gelburd's studio is in a 1750 historic mill where the river runs under her house. The waterfalls and forests are the inspiration for her work. This is a unique opportunity to see the house, the grounds and the sculptures, paintings and photographs that are inside her studio and on the property. Join her on May 17th and 18th, 11-5 p.m. at 2015 North Main Road, Otis.
Outdoor Fountain: Goafoss, Icelandic Goddess of Waterfalls. Photo: Gail Gelburd, 2025
Gail Gelburd is a writer, artist and critic who has published numerous books and articles related to the interaction of humanity and the environment. More recently she has turned her attention away from curating exhibitions on this topic to making art about these issues. She has exhibited extensively in the past several years, and is in collections in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Colorado, California as well as Greece, Australia and India. Her works address the need for a balance between inner peace and activism. “The personal becomes universal. We all must feel, experience, fight for social justice and our environment.”
Gail writes:
“My art seeks to engage the viewer; to see that we are the river, the trees and the sea or a ferocious waterfall. We are all connected, like the roots of trees, the stream of water. We grow together. We live together and die together. We create a harmonic resonance. The sounds of nature inspire me as the waterfalls and trees move and flow, or sit quietly. My art layers the trees and waterfalls, streams and sunlight with the human form, so that we might appreciate this inter-connectedness. We need to seek balance and unity with Mother Earth.
“My process is as layered as my concept. Using my archival digital photographs, encaustic paints, sometimes on molded fabric, my images become relief sculptures, hanging scrolls, or life sized fully three-dimensional figures. All the images are encased in wax; forever preserved or mummified. The wax sometimes explodes to echo the power of nature or can fade the image itself into a face or a bodily form. They unveil the power of nature and humble us, as we bow to our own fragility. It all seeks to remind us that we are our environment.”
Joining her in the studio is fellow artist and Otis resident Celeste Watman. From the 1970s until today, Celeste created and exhibited her art. As a former resident of Long Island, her work was shown in juried shows: the Islip Art Museum, the Bryant Library, the Hecksher Museum, the Sid Jacobson Center, Nassau Community College and the Port Washington Public Library. When she moved to Otis, more than six years ago, her collages were selected for the following juried exhibitions: the New Marlborough Meeting House Gallery, the Knox Gallery and twice at the Spencertown Academy.
Collage by Celeste Watman titled Sojourn. Photo: William Watman
Celeste writes of her art:
Process:
Images are chosen
Patterns emerge
Feelings form
Purpose:
Imagine possibilities
Explore landscapes
Construct alternatives
Predictions:
Reconfigure realism
View options
Collages are composed
This event is part of Art Week Berkshires, a county wide celebration of the arts and artists.
The studio will be open May 17 and 18, 11-5 at 2015 North Main road Otis MA. Please park carefully along Route 8.
For more information you can go to gailgelburd.com.
