'Watercolor+' Group Exhibition Opens At Ashwawagh Hall

“Watercolor+,” an art exhibition featuring local artists Ani Antreasyan, Kirsten Benfield, Nancy Brody, Amy Conway, Carol Craig Sigler, Lesley Obrock, Janet Rojas and Jerry Schwabe will be held at Ashawagh Hall, 780 Spring Fireplace Road, East Hampton, from Friday, October 4, through Sunday, October 6.

An opening reception will be held on Saturday, October 5 from 5 to 8 p.m. This year’s show is titled “Watercolor+” to include the addition of other mediums: oil and gouache.

Antreasyan is known for her idyllic gardens designed around the ancient stone pieces that she collects around the world. Born in Istanbul, she is influenced by her Mediterranean upbringing and delivers dreamy landscapes and seascapes in her lifelong photography pursuit as well as her new passion in watercolors.

Benfield is originally from New Zealand now lives and works in East Hampton. As a traveler, observations from her journeys have been recorded in watercolor.

Brody was born in Detroit and moved to New York City in 1980 in order to be surrounded by arts and culture. She has spent her career in non-profit arts management and is now a docent at the Parrish Art Museum and produces artist studio tours for the Volunteers of Guild Hall. She began painting in 2016 with artist Barbara Thomas at the Parrish Museum and has been studying watercolor with Janet Jennings since January 2018.

Conway writes, paints and sculpts with the passion to deeply understand this truth and embody who and what we can be when we let this truth permeate our being. A Springs resident, she is studying painting and drawing at Parsons School of Design in New York.

Sigler was born in New York and studied painting in Germany and at the New School. On the East End, she continued painting with Linda Berger, and more recently with Janet Jennings.

Obrock grew up in the Midwest and studied painting and printmaking at Meramec Community College and obtained a degree in interior design. She presently works in a variety of media including encaustic, oil, watercolor, fiber and most recently plaster. A member of the Artist Alliance of East Hampton, East End Arts and Springs Improvement society, she has participated in numerous curated and juried shows and her work can be found in private collections across the country.

Rabinowitz always loved to draw and after enjoying art in school, earned a minor in art at Wesleyan University. After college, she studied at the Boston Museum School and went on an art tour in Japan with an influential Japanese painting teacher. She stayed on, teaching English and studying Woodblock Printing from the Yoshida family at an art center in Nagano. She studies with Janet Jennings.

Rojas got her introduction to watercolor painting by taking a series of adult education classes at East Hampton High School. She has also studied with Janet Jennings. Both her representational and abstract works are inspired by the serenity and nature of the East End.

Color, gesture and line continue to be an important manifestation of inspiration for Schwabe’s painting, photography and sculpture. In the show he exhibits a group of watercolor and acrylic paintings that demonstrate his ability to convey atmosphere and mood through color as well as expressive forms and lines.