World Cultures: Traditions in Color
Stealth Dancers, Tolu Ayorinde
The Stamford Art Association and the Ferguson Library invite you to take a trip around the world through visual art. I introduce you to World Cultures, now on view through January 7th. The opening reception is Thursday, September 10th from 5:30 – 7pm at the Ferguson Library. This is your opportunity to meet the artists and the guest juror.
The juror is artist Luis Fonseca, “a multidisciplinary artist working across photography, mixed media, and installation.” His “…practice moves fluidly between tactile processes and digital tools, including AI, which he engages as an extension of both process and concept.”
Born in Colombia and based in The Bronx, “his work is shaped by experiences of transition, adaptation, and cultural movement”. Luis is a graduate of the City College of New York (BA in Photography). He is a recipient of the 2025 B.R.I.O. Award and has exhibited at the Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art; regionally, in art galleries in the tri-state area as well as internationally, including in Spain and Switzerland.
My favorite artwork is Tolu Ayorinde’s Stealth Dancers which was painted in the Impressionist style. The painting is framed in a vintage or period-inspired frame greeting visitors as they walk into the 3rd floor gallery. The ghostly figures are walking through the park on stilts in a festival popular in African countries and the Caribbean celebrating children. The artist omits facial expressions from the stilt dancers, and leaves the inference up to the viewer.
Artist Joyce Therieault captures two oxen wearing a decorative floral yoke and she includes suede fringe trim for a tactile element. The cows and greenery are beautifully rendered celebrating the Costa Rican Oxcart Tradition. Did you know these oxen train for several years together to develop a strong working partnership?
Joyce Therieault, Partners in Tradition
Fellow Cranbrook-Kingswood Alumna photographer Sally Harris’ Amish Children depicts three curious and perhaps shy children with their beloved pet rabbit. What amazes me, is how Sally earns her subjects’ trust permitting her to photograph them. I remember driving through Amish Country in Northern Michigan. She and her late husband travel photographer Wilmot Harris also photographed the Travelers in Ireland, another very insular group.
Art Critic in 1 Minute reviews of World Cultures will be released soon. If you visit the exhibit, I would enjoy your feedback.
Sally Harris, Amish Children and Their Bunny
