Yesterday was like a dream day. My friend Karen and I visited the Ridgefield Guild of Artists’ current shows and, after about two hours of eye-to-brain awesomeness, we left, nearly speechless due to being so full of the many thoughts engendered by what we had just seen.
Dayna Wenzel, whose solo exhibition is in the upstairs gallery, met us and a few others and gave us a tour of her show, Nature Unraveled. Dayna creates exquisite sculptural pieces which are composed of natural materials which are often juxtaposed with found objects which others might define as rusty old debris! The results are simply beautiful, as you can see in the piece above.
Having Dayna lead us through her exhibit was quite a treat. No matter how much I may be drawn to a work of art, there is always a heightened level of appreciation that happens in talking with the artist. We learned a lot about Dayna’s process, how she spends lots of time outdoors, experiencing nature with her dog at her side, and scavenging things that go others never even "see" until they lay eyes upon her constructions.
Many of her dried flower heads and pods come from her own garden, which makes me want to see it because I’ll bet it is gorgeous. She also has quite a collection of wasp nests. Now, I would love to get my hands a one of those gorgeous, papery globes but I never see them. Dayna, on the other hand, will tell you they are to be found everywhere! (Note to self: Less couch, more woods.)
After our really special visit with Dayna, we headed downstairs to wander through the current show, By a Thread: The Fine Art of Fiber. The collection of works, curated by Nancy Moore, is a wonderful offering of fiber art from some of Connecticut’s most exciting fiber artists at work today.
Here are but a very few pieces I enjoyed seeing on yesterday’s visit.
